Nationalists attack police station after march allowed

Nationalists attacked the local police station in Lurgan, Co Armagh, last night with petrol bombs after another Parades Commission ruling was overturned by the PSNI.

Senior SDLP and Sinn Féin figures have complained to both the Irish and British governments that the PSNI are ignoring commission rulings.

The police say a parked car in the path of a Royal Black Institution parade led them to agree to allow loyalist marchers through the nationalist part of Lurgan.

The SDLP Leader, Mark Durkan, went further to say that the British government would only encourage the Loyal Orders and damage community relations by staying silent.

SDLP assembly member Dolores Kelly said the Black Institution should never be allowed to march through Lurgan again, and demanded the resignation of the chairman of the local policing partnership, the DUP’s Jonathan Bell, who led the march.

Marchers had played sectarian music and indulged in provocative and inflammatory behaviour.

Sinn Féin's John O'Dowd said in addition to provoking trouble, 300 loyalists had blocked the town centre for an hour.