EXTRA POLICE DRAFTED TO NI AFTER FIFTH NIGHT OF VIOLENCE

A family estate car burned out on the Albertbridge Road in east Belfast after rioting on Tuesday night

A family estate car burned out on the Albertbridge Road in east Belfast after rioting on Tuesday night

THE PSNI is drafting in a further 300 police officers from the UK to Belfast later on Wednesday.

The beefing up of police resources follows a fifth night of rioting in parts of Northern Ireland on Tuesday.

The disturbances started on Friday, after an Orange Order parade was stopped from returning along part of the Crumlin Road in north Belfast.

The new latest group of ‘mutual aid officers’ brings the total number used over the 12 July period to 1,300.

The first batch of 630 officers has already gone back to Britain. About 600 remain in Northern Ireland.

It is understood up 1,000 officers in mainland Britain are on standby to be drafted into Northern Ireland

THE PSNI say 35 petrol bombs were thrown and seven cars burnt out during serious rioting in east and north Belfast on Tuesday night.

It was the fifth consecutive night of violence following the banning of a return parade of the Orange Order past the Ardoyne shop fronts.

And the violence continued despite political condemnation and calls for it to stop.

Security sources said loyalists were trying to stretch PSNI resouces “thinly” over a wide area of Belfast.

Police came under attack after large crowds gathered on the lower Newtownards Road in east Belfast.

Four cars were set on fire during the disturbances.

Two cars on fire in Templemore Avenue in east Belfast

Two cars on fire in Templemore Avenue in east Belfast

A French press photographer was assaulted by rioters and had his camera stolen.

A car and moped were set alight on O’Neill Road, Newtownabbey, County Antrim.

Two petrol bombs and a number of other missiles hit a police vehicle in the area, but there were no reports of any injuries.

Police also deployed water cannon for a time in the Mount Vernon area of north Belfast after petrol bombs were thrown at police. A car was set alight.

Also in the north of the city, there were reports of disorder in the Woodvale Road and a number of petrol bombs were thrown at a police vehicle on the Whitewell Road.

Officers came under attack at North Queen Street with petrol bombs and other missiles.

A car was set alight in the middle of the road.

Police also responded to sporadic stone throwing incidents at a number of locations in South Belfast.

It’s believed at least one petrol bomb was also thrown in the Blacks Road area and at least one paint bomb was thrown in the Kingsway area.

Police described the trouble as “sporadic pockets of disorder” and said the number of people involved in the disorder was lower than on previous nights.

The trouble in east Belfast started just before 11pm.

Two of the cars were burnt out at Templemore Avenue at the Newtownards Road end, one on Templemore Avenue at the junction of Albertbridge Road, and one on Glenmore Street off Templemore Avenue.

There was also minor trouble in the Corcrain area of Portadown on Tuesday evening.

A number of fireworks were let off by the crowd and a number of golf balls were thrown.

Around 20 loyalist protestors staged a white line protest while nationalists gathered nearby.

It ended after local councillors intervened and persuaded the group to move off the road voluntarily before police moved them.

On Monday evening, nine officers were injured when they were hit with masonry, during sectarian rioting in Corcrain Road, Charles Street and Park Road in the County Armagh town.

Two of them were taken to hospital.

Police said officers had been attacked by both sides, as fireworks, bottles and golf balls were thrown from opposing crowds.

The unrest followed four nights of rioting in parts of the city after an Orange Order parade was banned from marching on a stretch of the Crumlin Road in north Belfast that separates loyalist and nationalist communities on the Twelfth.

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