Post date: Aug 10, 2013 12:35:40 PM
Police fire plastic bullets and water cannon at rioters in the heart of Belfast on Friday after being pelted by missiles in the latest bout of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland.
BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM (AUGUST 9, 2013) (ITN) - Fifty-six police officers were wounded on Friday (August 9) when sectarian rioting engulfedBelfast city centre in violence linked to a contentious republican parade.
Police deployed two water cannon and fired more than 20 plastic baton rounds in a bid to quell the disorder after being pelted by missiles for the second successive night.Bricks, bottles and fireworks rained down on riot police when they moved in to try to clear the city's main thoroughfare - Royal Avenue - to enable a parade by the nationalist side of the community to go past.
Many of the injuries were minor, but four officers were taken to hospital. Two civilians were also injured.
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villiers condemned the rioting as 'shameful'.
Eight officers were hurt the previous night (Thursday August 8) when a crowd threw paint bombs, bottles and masonry at police.
A 1998 peace and power-sharing deal largely ended decades of strife in the British province butBelfast remains divided between pro-British loyalists and republicans who generally continue to favour unification with Ireland.
The violence began on Thursday (August 8) night and focused on a bonfire in the Divis Street area, a Catholic-dominated part of Belfast, where police said they came under attack.
The bonfire was held to mark the anniversary of the 1971 introduction of internment without trial by British authorities during Northern Ireland's so-called "Troubles".
At that time, soldiers swept into Catholic districts and arrested more than 340 people as the British government sought to halt growing Irish Republican Army (IRA) violence aimed at extinguishing rule from London.