NI: Investigation after police open fire on lorry

The Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman was continuing an investigation today after police opened fire on a lorry in west Belfast.

No-one was injured in the incident in the St James's area of the Falls Road but nationalist politicians expressed concern about officers opening fire in a built-up area.

One man arrested at the scene was being questioned by police today.

The PSNI said shots were fired at the lorry after it failed to stop and hit a car and a police vehicle in St James's Park yesterday afternoon.

SDLP Assembly member and member of the Policing Board Alex Attwood said police would have to justify the action to an anxious public why they opened fire in a built-up area.

"This is another time in recent months that the PSNI have used live fire, on one occasion leading to the death of a man.

"It gives rise to public anxiety, particularly when it occurs in a heavily built-up area," he said.

"The police have to justify why this vehicle was chased off the motorway and why live fire was used, though there are suggestions that this vehicle was chasing through a built-up area and crashing through red lights.''

Sinn Féin councillor Marie Moore said the police operation ``appears to have been carried out with absolutely no regard for the safety of the people of this community''.

She said: ``I am very concerned at reports that this van was forced off the motorway into a built-up residential area and that a number of shots were also fired by the PSNI in a area where many children and families would have been going about their business.''