Youths rampage during festival celebrations

Violence threatened to overshadow the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Belfast tonight.

As thousands of people gathered for an open air concert in the city centre, a crowd of youths went on the rampage in a nearby shopping precinct.

A police officer was injured when he was struck by a broken bottle during disturbances involving a gang at the Castlecourt complex. Three people were later arrested.

Meanwhile officers had to separate crowds of up to 200 people who had gathered in the staunchly Protestant Shankill district of the city.

Loyalist representatives claimed republicans returning from the St Patrick’s day carnival attacked homes and cars in the Peters Hill area.

Tommy Kirkham, spokesman for the Ulster Political Research Group, hit out at others who had travelled to the United States and left Belfast exposed to sectarian tensions.

He said: “While everybody is in Washington playing happy families, these attacks in the city centre are getting worse.

“This was republicans turning their attention to sectarian violence on their way back home.”

A police spokesman said no arrests had been made and no injuries were reported.