Injuries reported after gunfire at Belfast riots

Police and civilians were injured as loyalist gunmen opened fire during ferocious rioting on the streets of Belfast today.

A barrage of blast and petrol bombs was also hurled at officers and soldiers as violence erupted over a bitterly disputed Orange Order parade.

Two men were taken to hospital, one with a gunshot wound and the other seriously injured after being caught by one of the explosions.

Up to six police officers were also hurt in some of the most serious disorder in Belfast for years.

Plastic bullets and water cannon were deployed in a bid to halt the mayhem. Cars were hijacked and a bus set alight as chaos spread across west and north Belfast. Major roads were also blocked off, threatening huge traffic disruptions.

Police could not confirm the extent of the officers’ injuries, although at least one was taken away by ambulance with head wounds.

Bullets and bombs struck a number of armoured Landrovers. At one stage men and women had to take cover behind their vehicles amid the gunfire, a security source said.

Loyalist factions also clashed briefly with nationalists opposed to the controversial Whiterock Parade.

Orangemen and their supporters had been incensed by a Parades Commission decision to reroute the march following opposition from nationalist residents. Instead of passing through security gates onto the Springfield Road, marchers were told to go through the site of the former engineering firm, Mackies.

As they made their way through, crowds on both sides taunted each other.

The gates at Workman Avenue locked to keep loyalists out were pounded sporadically. But the trouble was at its height further up on the North Circular Road, where the gun and bomb attacks were concentrated.

Police fired baton rounds at rioters as the violence intensified.

Disturbances then spread to the Upper Crumlin Road/Hesketh Road junction of north Belfast, with security forces pelted by more petrol bombs and stones. A vehicle was hijacked and set on fire at police lines, a PSNI spokesman said. One of the force’s water cannon was damaged during the gunfire, he added.

Three more cars were reported on fire on the Ardoyne Road, while a burning bus blocked off North Queen Street, close to the city centre.

Before the march reached the most hotly disputed section, some clashes were reported.

Sinn Féin claimed hundreds of loyalists emerged from the Sandy Row district and attacked nationalists on the Grosvenor Road.

Police Landrovers were brought in to keep the two sides apart and clear the main Westlink motoring route through the city. But Sinn Féin councillor Fra McCann questioned how the loyalists managed to get through.

“There must have been 500 of them allowed to walk into a nationalist area,” he claimed.

Disturbances at the Short Strand/Albertbridge Road peaceline in east Belfast were also contained by police.

Further road blocks took place at Ligoniel and the Crumlin Road in the north, and at the city centre Shaftesbury Square.

The gunfire confirmed fears that loyalist paramilitaries planned to take to the streets.

Thousands of Protestants had been expected at a major rally in north-west Belfast to protest at the parade ban.

Meanwhile, the Orange Order claimed nationalists attacked their marchers in east and west Belfast. They also accused police of failing to protect them during incidents on the Albertbridge and Grosvenor Roads.

A spokesman claimed when marchers approached the Grosvenor Road only one police vehicle was there and police were powerless to protect them.

He said: “Yesterday, Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland gave repeated assurances to the public via media interviews that he had sufficient manpower and resources to deal with any eventuality that might arise.

“Clearly Mr McCausland is not up to managing the situation and containing nationalists bent on causing trouble. The PSNI’s (Police Service of Northern Ireland) response to these troublemakers is both scandalous and pathetic.”

DUP leader Ian Paisley, who was due to address the rally at Woodvale Park, claimed the security operation stopped Orangemen from attending. He also hit out at the authorities behind the re-route, accusing them of treating marchers shamefully.

He said: “The Parades Commission are to blame for the mess that has been created. The commission treated elected representatives with contempt by its refusal to even call us to put our case. We were refused the opportunity to give greater detail.

"At this difficult time I am appealing to all law abiding people to remain calm.”

But Sinn Féin South Belfast MLA Alex Maskey challenged Mr Paisley, Ulster Unionist leader Reg Empey and Orange Order chief Dawson Bailey to condemn the rioting.

He said: “The widespread disruption and attacks are not just an attempt to terrorise the nationalist community, but they are an attack on the whole community. Unionist leaders must make it clear that there can be no justification for such actions, and that they stand against this violence and intimidation.”

SDLP representatives also issued a strong condemnation of the violence.

West Belfast councillor Tim Attwood said: “We appeal for calm from all sides. The loyalist violence which has erupted is completely wrong and must stop. The loyalists responsible for this trouble are out to raise tensions and cause serious damage. Political and community leaders from all sides must work hard to ensure calm prevails across the city tonight.”

Meanwhile, a disused garage was set alight and a number of cars hijacked as the trouble spread to the Shore Road in North Belfast.

Across in the east of the city, there were reports of a pipe bomb exploding near Albertbridge Road. Three similar undetonated devices were found in the same area, police said.

In the nearby Short Strand six officers received minor injuries during sporadic disturbances and later petrol bomb attacks.

Meanwhile police and troops continued to come under gun and bomb attack along the West Circular Road where Army explosives experts were called in to defuse a number of devices.