PSNI clash with loyalist protesters in Belfast

Two police officers have been injured in clashes with loyalist protesters in Belfast tonight, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed.

PIC: A PSNI officer restrains a protestor during disorder in Belfast city centre pic.twitter.com/Tvjb9ARmdH

— Conor Shanley (@ConorS) August 9, 2013

The trouble in Belfast city centre came ahead of a republican parade.

There were clashes in the Royal Avenue area, with officers pelted with bricks and other missiles, as hundreds of loyalist demonstrators gathered to protest at the rally to mark the introduction of internment in the North during the Troubles.

PSNI hemming protesters in at Royal Ave. pic.twitter.com/DOEoKPv8ap

— PUP (@OfficialPUP) August 9, 2013

Protesters have attempted to block part of the route the Anti-Internment League parade, which started in north Belfast earlier, was due to take.

The parade was delayed from entering the city centre as police attempted to restore order.

Police have advised the public to avoid the area.

Members of the public advised to avoid Carrickhill/Peters Hill/Millfield, Belfast as Police continue to deal with serious public disorder.

— Police Service NI (@PoliceServiceNI) August 9, 2013

Both injured officers have been taken to hospital for treatment, a PSNI spokeswoman said.

Police have deployed water canon and fired plastic baton rounds in a bid to quell the trouble.

Officers have faced a sustained barrage of bottles, fireworks, metal guttering ripped from shop fronts and glasses apparently raided from a nearby bar.

The latest disorder comes after eight officers were injured when trouble flared at a republican anti-internment bonfire near the city centre last night. Eight people were arrested and at one point, as violence spread to north Belfast, officers were attacked by a man wielding a sword.

Less than a month ago parts of Belfast were consumed by rioting, predominantly loyalist, triggered when Orangemen were prevented from parading past the nationalist Ardoyne area in the north of the city.

Parading tensions have also spread elsewhere in Northern Ireland with major controversy surrounding a planned Sinn Féin-backed commemoration event in the Co Tyrone town of Castlederg this Sunday for local IRA members killed during the conflict.