Crowd attacks police with petrol bombs

Police have come under petrol bomb attack in north Belfast, it was revealed today.

They were attacked by up to 100 people when they went into the area to try to make arrests after trouble flared last night.

The violence began when a Police Service Land Rover had two petrol bombs and three paint bombs thrown at it in Henry Place, near Carlisle Circus, said a police spokesman.

When officers moved in and attempted to make arrests, they were confronted by the large, hostile crowd and retreated.

An hour later police received reports of youths making petrol bombs at a playground in Victoria Parade.

When they went to investigate, officers recovered two petrol bombs, a canister of petrol, a tin of paint and other items for making petrol and paint bombs.

One petrol bomb was thrown at a police Land Rover and the children’s playground was set on fire.

No-one was injured and no arrests made during the trouble.

Meanwhile, the police handling of a banned parade in Ballymena, County Antrim, during which three people were arrested last night, has been referred to the Police Ombudsman.

Members of the nationalist SDLP criticised the handling of the Orange Order parade, and a protest against it, during which two people were arrested for disorderly behaviour and one for a driving offence.

Sean Farren MLA, who was observing the parade, said serious questions had to be answered about the way police handled protesters at the parade.

“There was a degree of aggression in their behaviour which I think has to be questioned. The kind of instructions they seemed to be operating under did not seem to me to be appropriate to the level of protest of which there was virtually none,” he said.