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Sep 12 2005 | |
Fifty police officers were injured in relentless weekend rioting across Belfast and beyond, it has emerged. Loyalist gunmen opened fire on police and soldiers for two nights running as the city's streets were turned into a war zone. Blast, petrol and paint bombs were hurled at security lines throughout Belfast and parts of Co Antrim and Co Down. At least 18 more officers were injured overnight after 32 were wounded during the first night of violence linked to an Orange Order march re-routed away from Catholic homes. They were pelted with petrol bombs and paint by a 700-strong mob on the Albertbridge Road in east Belfast, where a digger was hijacked and used to flatten street lights. Police said a number of shots were fired at them on the nearby Newtownards Road, and at the Army on the Donegall Road, south Belfast. A total of 36 baton rounds were discharged by the security forces in a bid to drive back the crowds. Soldiers also fired two live rounds at Broadway, west Belfast, where a man was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound to his arm. He was later arrested for attempted murder. New Barnsley police station, in the west of the city, was rocked by explosions. A car and van were crashed into its metal gates and attempts made to set a security hut ablaze with gas cylinders. Automatic gunfire was also directed at Tenant Street station in north Belfast, but no injuries were reported. Cars and vans were hijacked and set on fire throughout Belfast, while in Bangor, Co Down, a bus was burnt out by men who robbed passengers and ordered them out. Plastic bullets and water canons were directed at arsonists who destroyed a bank and video shop, fast-food outlet and offices used by the Probation Board and Democratic Unionist Party at Cloughfern, Newtownabbey, just outside north Belfast. Nearby, a pregnant woman and a man were dragged from their car by a gang during an attempted hijacking, while in Glengormley, Co Antrim, a building and three vehicles were wrecked by petrol bombers who targeted a car sales showroom. Ambulance crews were forced back during three 999 calls, including one for a 93-year-old woman. Attacks were also launched in Banbridge, Co Down, and Glengormley and Ballymena in Co Antrim. More than 20 suspects were arrested for rioting, and two others charged over the earlier disorder were due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court. Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde will also brief Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain on the full scale of the violence which he described as some of the most dangerous faced by any police force in UK history. Sir Hugh has appointed one of his top detectives to lead a major investigation into the violence that followed the controversial Orange march in west Belfast on Saturday. Loyalist paramilitary gunmen fired at least 50 shots at security lines during 12 hours of mayhem into Sunday morning. Police and soldiers discharged 430 baton rounds and used water canons in a bid to drive back rioters. They also returned live fire. Seven guns were seized and a bomb-making factory was discovered in the Highfield estate, north Belfast. As detectives began studying masses of CCTV footage in a bid to identify the Ulster Defence Association and Ulster Volunteer Force paramilitaries behind much of the chaos, Sir Hugh called his men and women heroes who could have been killed. He said: "We are very lucky we do not have dead officers. They were shot at by paramilitary groups from the loyalist side. What I saw was a very professional response to one of the most dangerous riot situations in the history of policing in the United Kingdom. It is unique to Northern Ireland for officers to come under live fire in what was a public order situation." | |||
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