East Belfast nationalists meet with Government

Nationalist residents of the Short Strand district in east Belfast are in talks with Irish Government officials today to discuss the almost nightly street clashes in the area.

The group wants the Government to ask British Prime Minister Tony Blair to intervene and end the violence between local nationalist and loyalist residents.

The police have accused both loyalist and republican paramilitaries of orchestrating the clashes, but Sinn Féin has insisted that the Short Strand is under siege.

Party spokesman Joe O’Donnell, who is part of the Short Strand delegation, said: "If it was the case that the Short Strand was the aggressor, then why are the other churches in east Belfast being attacked, why are the schools being attacked, why are shopping centres being threatened, why are employers being threatened?

"Quite clearly, those claims from within unionism and loyalism that the aggressor is this very small community, that has been destroyed on a daily basis, just don’t hold water."