PSNI use CS spray to quell Orange parade trouble

Police in the North were forced to use CS spray when trouble broke out following an Orange parade in Co Antrim last night.

The disturbances were in Rasharkin when local Orangemen returned to the village after attending the main county parade, the Police Service of Northern Ireland eventually revealed today.

Tensions had been running high after an arson attack on the Orange hall in the main street in the early hours of the morning.

The Orangemen had also been delayed from making their departure for the main parade by what turned out to be a hoax bomb planted on their route.

Following recent damage to a Catholic-owned pub, local SDLP Assembly member Declan O’Loan had warned of the consequences of the actions and appealed for cool heads.

There were also understood to have been disturbances in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, but police were unable to give details.