Thursday, 21 June, 2001, 08:34 GMT 09:34 UK
Police injured in sectarian riots
Violence escalated as the crowds clashed with riot police
Crowds of up to 600 loyalists and nationalists have clashed with police officers during overnight rioting in north Belfast.
Police chiefs say 39 Royal Ulster Constabulary officers were injured during the violence, five of them needing hospital treatment.
More than 100 petrol bombs were thrown at officers, police said.
The rioting followed two days of tension between nationalists and loyalists at an interface in the Ardoyne district.
Eight of the new plastic bullets, recently introduced in Northern Ireland, were fired by the police to disperse the crowds who threw stones and petrol bombs at riot police.
"This is one of the most difficult and notorious interfaces in Belfast. The two communities live cheek by jowl," said senior RUC officer, Alan McQuillan.
"What we had last night were simple naked sectarian riots with the police and the army in the middle attempting to keep the two communities apart."
The new security minister, Jane Kennedy MP, has condemned the violence as "sickening".
"The sight of large groups of thugs throwing petrol bombs and missiles at the police will have sickened all decent people in Northern Ireland," she said.
Riot police formed battle lines using heavily armoured landrovers to separate the nationalist crowd at Brompton Park from loyalists at Twadell Avenue.
Tensions rose in the area following a day of sporadic clashes between rival factions at another Catholic/Protestant interface at the junction of Alliance Avenue and Ardoyne Road.
'Riot situation'
As injured officers were being taken to hospital, loyalists attempted to petrol bomb the ambulance.
One RUC officer has suffered a broken jaw and another was injured in a blast bomb attack on Wednesday afternoon.
The police said nine shots were fired during the violence, six from loyalists and three from nationalists.
The violence had diminished by the early hours of Thursday morning, however police are monitoring the situation.
Throughout Wednesday evening the security forces came under heavy stoning in a number of areas.
One police officer was knocked unconscious and taken to hospital, a police spokeswoman said.
In another incident two officers were injured in the Crumlin Road area, and a car was also seized and set on fire in the area.
The latest wave of violence broke as the police and Army patrolled the streets following an explosion at about 1645 BST on Wednesday.
The blast occurred at the rear of nationalist homes which back onto Protestant houses near the peace line, which separates Catholics and Protestants.
A couple who were in the house at the time were badly shaken but not injured.
A shed in the back yard of the house was damaged.
Tension
Sinn Fein claimed the explosion was caused by a loyalist pipe bomb thrown at a Catholic home.
But Billy Hutchinson of the Progressive Unionist Party blamed nationalists for the sectarian trouble. He also condemned the blast bomb attack.
Holy Cross Girls' Primary on the Ardoyne Road was closed on Wednesday after many parents kept children away over fears for their safety.
The school principal, Ann Tanney, said she had been assured by police that children will be protected when they arrive on Thursday.
There has been tension in the area since a
loyalist Orange Order parade on 15 June, when
there were some minor skirmishes.
-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001