MP criticises police after night of violence
Violence along an East Belfast peaceline will not end unless the security forces stop treating a nationalist neighbourhood as a no-go area, Democratic Unionist MP Peter Robinson claimed today.
After another night of serious street clashes between loyalists and republicans along the Short Strand interface, the East Belfast MP demanded a permanent police presence in the nationalist area to prevent attacks.
He told PA News: "Police are right to identify republicans as having started trouble in this area but the question is how do you stop that cycle?
"The fact is trouble will continue until police take possession of the Short Strand.
"They must go in and maintain a presence in a bid to stop republicans gathering in the area and continuing nightly attacks. The Short Strand must not be allowed to continue as a no-go area."
The DUP deputy leader called for a tougher security approach after around 200 people clashed at the interface between the loyalist Cluan Place and nationalist Clandeboye Drive.
Several people were injured and homes were damaged as petrol and blast bombs were thrown.
Police, who tried to keep the rival sides apart, claimed two suspect devices found in the Short Strand were hoaxes and were probably left by local people as they were too heavy to have been thrown over the peace wall separating nationalist residents from loyalists.
Loyalist community worker Alfie McCrory criticised the police's handling of the violence.
"We have a woman seriously injured," he claimed. "We have blast bombs thrown into Cluan Place.
"We have a 15-year-old child away to hospital with a bad asthma attack and her head split open.
"So the PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) are failing to control the nationalists in the Short Strand."
However a Sinn Fein councillor accused loyalists of sparking trouble. Joe O'Donnell said in the wake of the latest violence that unionist and loyalist leaders needed to work harder to stop nightly attacks on nationalist homes from the loyalist side.
"The answer is very simple," he declared. "Loyalist mobs have to be prevented from gathering and attacking the community on a nightly basis.
"It has to end and people within the unionist and loyalist community need to show leadership to bring this to an end.
"Then representatives can enter some kind of dialogue where we can move our communities forward."
Last night's violence occurred despite ongoing efforts involving all sides to broker an end to the interface violence which has blighted communities in north, south and east Belfast.
Northern Ireland office minister Des Browne met loyalist political representatives from the Ulster Political Research Group earlier this week as part of the government's efforts to stop the violence.
Belfast Sinn Fein Lord Mayor Alex Maskey has also met the UPRG, which provides political analysis to the loyalist paramilitary Ulster Defence Association, and other political, church, trade union, community and business groups as part of a city council initiative to tackle sectarianism.
