Trouble flares for second night in Belfast

Three officers were taken to hospital during trouble that saw rioters throw 15 petrol bombs at police lines in the Carlisle Circus area in the north of the city.

Officers used water cannon and fired six baton rounds at the crowds as troubled flared last night.

Rioters also hurled stones, bottles, fireworks and rocks and hijacked a van in Denmark Street before pushing it towards police lines.

The extent of the injuries sustained by the police officers taken to hospital is not yet known.

Terry Spence, chairman of the Northern Ireland Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said: “Their bravery and courage is in stark contrast to that of the cowardly thugs responsible for trying to murder them.”

Petrol bombs

Earlier in the day PSNI Chief Constable Matt Baggot warned that Northern Ireland cannot afford a repeat of the sectarian violence of the previous night when 47 Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers were injured.

Mr Baggot also called on community leaders to take action to reduce tensions.

Water cannon was deployed when the officers were attacked with fireworks, petrol bombs and masonry in disturbances they said initially involved several hundred loyalists.

Nationalists were also involved in the clashes which surrounded a republican march, but which were close to the scene of recent disorder around a loyalist parade.

Four officers were taken to hospital with various injuries. Only one remains in hospital and his injuries are not life-threatening, while 43 other officers were treated for various minor injuries.

Arrest

A 17-year-old man has been charged with riotous assembly, assault on police, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and resisting arrest.

He is due to appear at Belfast youth court on Tuesday.

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Supt George Clarke said: “We cannot continue to see the lives of our community and our police officers put at such risk.”

He added: “Every hour of disorder in Northern Ireland not only puts lives at risk, it also reduces confidence in our community and wastes huge amounts of money that could be better spent on schools and hospitals. Violence cannot be a solution.”

New challenge for Theresa Villiers

"Welcome to Northern Ireland, Secretary of State, here is your lovely new office. The art is all local. You aren't responsible for much any more. Except parades. Like the one which has just sparked two nights of rioting in north Belfast. There's a bigger parade coming soon. You can't open the windows, by the way, they're bullet-proof."

If Theresa Villiers thought Heathrow was an knotty problem, she might be thinking again, writes Channel 4 News Reporter Carl Dinnen. Two nights of rioting in north Belfast. 60 police officers injured and a senior policeman openly talking about the failure of politicians to deal with the parading issue.

It was a parade that sparked this week's trouble. Loyalists angry that a Republican parade had not been subjected to the kind of restrictions theirs are. The restrictions on contentious parades are put in place by the Parades Commission which is independent, but appointed by the Secretary of State. The Northern Ireland Office would rather she didn't have to, would prefer local politicians to deal with the issue.

Although the Northern Ireland assembly has even managed to agree the devolution of policing and justice powers, the parades issue is so toxic no-one has been able to agree how to devolve it. There are those who suspect the local politicians don't really want it devolved, wouldn't touch it with an extra long bargepole.

And on 29 September loyalism will have one of its biggest parades in living memory, to mark the centenary of the the Ulster Covenant. Theresa Villiers may be about to learn a lot about the limitations and frustrations of her new job.