Petrol bombs thrown at police in fifth night of North violence

Police came under attack for a fifth successive night in Belfast, with around 35 petrol bombs thrown at officers by loyalists.

The majority of trouble was in the east of the city, with sporadic unrest in other areas, including Newtownabbey in greater Belfast.

Six cars and a moped were set alight.

A spokeswoman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said: “Police dealt with sporadic pockets of disorder across a number of locations in the Belfast and Newtownabbey area on Tuesday night, 16th July.

“The number of people involved in the disorder was lower than on previous nights.”

In previous nights the Woodvale area in north Belfast bore the brunt of the disorder.

The riots first flared on Friday night in Woodvale when Orangemen were prevented from marching through the nearby republican/nationalist Ardoyne area on their way home from traditional Orange Order Twelfth of July commemorations.

So far a total of 62 people have been arrested for public order offences.

No police officers were injured in last night’s clashes but 71 were hurt in the previous four nights of unrest.

Yesterday politicians in the North backed a motion which described the ban on the controversial Orange Order parade as “illogical”.

The Democratic Unionist motion was won by a single vote during a specially reconvened sitting of the Stormont Assembly.

During the two-hour debate DUP First Minister Peter Robinson claimed the Parades Commission – the adjudicating body set up in 1998 to deal with contentious parades – had got it wrong when it banned the march and said the body lacked credibility.

Mr Robinson also called for the Orange Order to engage with an all party working group led by US diplomat Dr Richard Haas to come up with an alternative to the Commission.

Dr Haas is due to arrive in the region today for preliminary talks ahead of the substantive negotiations in the autumn.

Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness told the Assembly Belfast should learn from his native city of Derry where thousands of Orangemen took part in Twelfth demonstrations without incident.

The Parades Commission published restrictions on the north Belfast parade on July 9.

It ruled that the Orange Order could march past Ardoyne on the Crumlin Road on the morning of July 12 but could not use the same return route on Friday afternoon.

The 300 metre stretch of the road separates loyalist and nationalist communities.