Police in Northern Ireland are on high alert ahead of the annual July 12th Orange Order marches after fresh rioting in Belfast in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Officials at the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have confirmed that 20 officers were injured, four of them hospitalized, as serious rioting broke out across West Belfast.
Gangs of nationalist youths fired over 40 petrol bombs and bombarded police with masonry as the trouble escalated ahead of Tuesday’s marches.
Officers in riot gear fired 51 plastic baton rounds and deployed a water cannon in the Broadway and Oldpark areas of Belfast after they came under attack.
Reports that gunshots were fired by the rioters are also under investigation as police brace themselves for further trouble at the height of the loyalist marching season.
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Emergency services responded to one call every 75 seconds at the height of the disturbances in the greater Belfast area. They received a total of 180 fire calls over a seven-hour period, representing a 65% increase on last year. Fire crews came under attack from stone throwers in the West of the city but escaped injury.
Over 60,000 Orangemen are expected to take part in the annual 12th of July marches across 18 venues in Northern Ireland on Tuesday.
The majority of the Orange Order marches are expected to pass off peacefully.
But police have mounted a major security operation in North Belfast where a parade passes close to the republican Ardoyne area.
The area was the scene for a hoax bomb warning late on Monday night when residents were evacuated as a precaution.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.seanomelbourne | Jul 13, 2011, 08:01 PM EDT
citizen69! to equate the LOL with freemasonary is incredulous the masons do not proscribe membership to catholics or protestants who are married to catholics or the children of "mixed marriages".Secondly the BNP have sent emissaries to the north of Ireland and have had discussions with the said groups,it's no secret, I am suprised you have not read of such meetings.
citizen69 | Jul 13, 2011, 06:37 AM EDT
@Anto: you're right. I live close by this area and it terrorizes residents, especially senior citizens . Rioters tear up peoples gardens for rocks & concrete to throw. You have to keep a close eye on your car unless people try to take it to use as a road block. A few days back 15 cars were burned out in a protestant area by loyalists during a riot. The people who worked hard for those cars will get a fraction of their value from the insurance company and their premiums will sore on renewal. It is the same story today in Republican areas. Rioters are not fighting for their community as they like to portray, they are destroying it, and doing it for very selfish reasons. the Politicians have strong words when 'the other' community are violent but make excuses when the violence is in their own community. Most ordinary people are disgusted by these louts...but still many people blame the other side instead of looking at the problem from their own community.
antoman | Jul 13, 2011, 05:34 AM EDT
Were the annual rioting to take place in middle class neighbourhoods,from where its orchestrated.it would cease to be an annual event.Exactly how fu*ked in the head do you have to be to tear up your own street and burn peoples cars and property?
citizen69 | Jul 13, 2011, 04:55 AM EDT
I'm not a big fan of the orange order but these allegations that they are the same as the KKK are way off the mark. They are a protestant fraternity more akin to freemasonary. They do not think they are superior to catholics, they do not want to remove catholics from Northern Ireland, They are not a violent organisation that kills people. In fact during the troubles 10% of the total of those murdered were orangemen. Of the 2000 plus orange parades per year there are only a handful of four or five that are controversial. These few parades attract the rioting thugs from both sides out onto the street for recreational violence. It's not political, it's set up by a few extremist paramilitaries on either side (depending on who happens to be rioting that night) and is almost exclusively teenage boys from working class areas without jobs, prospects or regards for community. They basically have nothing better to do and it provides them with some excitement and camaraderie for a few evenings. No other police force in the world would stand back so passively and let them get on with it like they do here in NI. The Orange Order are not responsible for the violence but their parades are used as an excuse for it. @Seanmelbourne: I hope you are not referring to me with your 'voices of reason' comment. I totally condemned the loyalist violence a few weeks ago on this very message board just as i am now condemning the republican violence now. I condemn violence from any source, unlike some. On your comment about UVF aligning themselves with the BNP. I have seen no evidence of it. The UVF have their own political party, the mildly socialist PUP. But even if it is true, that has absolutely zero do do with the Orange Order. I agree that the O.O. need to act more responsibly considering the consequences of the Ardoyne parade each year but to soley blame the Order for all the violence during the summer is complete nonsense.
maireadinmelb | Jul 13, 2011, 12:42 AM EDT
This happens every year on the 12th its just not publicised any more cause they try to say it is all fixed!!
mountainyetti | Jul 12, 2011, 11:53 PM EDT
Have wanted to visit "the ol' sod" all my life but my husband said it was too dangerous. He finally gives in and we're off this summer and it's "The Troubles" all over again. It's scary to go into a war zone. I agree, this should be outlawed but whose going to tell Irishmen what to do? It's got to be the Irish's idea, not smelling of Britain or any one else. But, please, get on with it!! Isn't six centuries enough? The economy can't wait.
wilmaslainte | Jul 12, 2011, 08:27 PM EDT
It's time these marches were outlawed. We need to look to the future and not the past. Irishmen are Irishmen and should not be defined by an orange sash.
seanomelbourne | Jul 12, 2011, 06:59 PM EDT
Your right sirpeter the UVf,UDA have aligned themselves with the BNP making the analogy with the KKK not far off the mark.By the way where were those so called "voices of reason" we are reading below, when orange mobs attacked a nationalist enclave a few weeks ago.Be carefull when taking the high moral ground there's a slippery slope on the other side.
citizen69 | Jul 12, 2011, 06:02 PM EDT
I'm sick to death of these loyalist & republican rioters! It's time the police were allowed to do their job and take these thugs off the streets. These rioters destroy their own streets, burn their neighbors cars, terrorize residents in their own community. The decent people of Northern Ireland are completely fed up. We are held to ransom ever year while extremists from both side demand THEIR rights while attacking other peoples rights. With rights come responsibilities and they must be made to take responsibility for their own actions. It's the same areas every time. Whether the thugs be waving Union Jacks or Irish Tricolors, they're all the same. :-(
sirpeter | Jul 12, 2011, 05:04 PM EDT
michaelidaho.It is stupidity.The question is why are the Orange parades NOT confined to their own areas?.Why do Orangemen insist on marching and antagonizing their own Nationalist neighbours?Why allow it when it only brings every scumbag from both sides out into the streets to riot.
ancavker | Jul 12, 2011, 04:27 PM EDT
crownsnest: Because it is all they have. Sad, wehn you stop and think about it. To make it nice the Orangemen now cloak it as their culture. That being said teh other side should nto be out rioting and causing mayhem either.
peterson | Jul 12, 2011, 03:54 PM EDT
Just what Northern Ireland needs is STUPID, IRRESPONSIBLE people rioting and destroying property. How dumb can they get ??
michaelidaho | Jul 12, 2011, 03:51 PM EDT
Just plain stupidity. Those republican youths need a good clean kick up the arse – just like the Orangemen that demand to march through Nationalist areas instead of being re-routed.
Rebelforce | Jul 12, 2011, 02:02 PM EDT
Does anyone doubt for a minute that the same kind of violent rioting would occur in many US cities if the KKK demanded their "right" to march through African-American neighborhoods?
badolan | Jul 12, 2011, 12:46 PM EDT
It looks like there is not much of a goal here. However, this should keep out tourists thereby suppressing economic recovery.
Jakki | Jul 12, 2011, 11:47 AM EDT
Ridiculous!! Have they nothing better to do with their time?? The world has enough problems without this carry-on.
crowsnest | Jul 12, 2011, 11:25 AM EDT
The Orange March is absolutely ridiculous in this day and age . Do they feel inferior or something and feel they have to prove something? Big deal - they won - what was it .. the year 1690? Sheesh ! Time To Move On.
sirpeter | Jul 12, 2011, 10:42 AM EDT
johhnyb could do with a few punch-uation marks. ha ha ha.
johhnyb | Jul 12, 2011, 10:16 AM EDT
Hi sirpeter, Since we'll never be able to do anything about your hatred of those awful unionists, what about working on your punctuation? The plural of unionist is unionists not unionist's. No apostrophe needed. You'll thank me some day. John
joycean | Jul 12, 2011, 10:05 AM EDT
Sirpeter has referred to them as KKK, and I have frequenty thought the analogy applies.In this country, what has worked is serious public pressure against white surpemists who insist they are the minority and it's their heritage which is under seige.
feliciamaisey | Jul 12, 2011, 09:18 AM EDT
This is a disgrace. At some point someone needs to find an alternative for the Orangemen to celebrate without arousing the hurt and anger of the minority Catholics. The marching is such an insult and only serves to wind up tensions and make mincemeat of the Peace Process overall.
sirpeter | Jul 12, 2011, 08:59 AM EDT
Orange leader Edward Stevenson must be out of his mind when he says "Orangeism has a part to play in everyday life of the Irish Republic."What kind of minds do these Unionist's have?A culture of rioting!! What country in the world would want this British KKK culture parading down your neighbourhood.All it does is create high tension and mayhem every year.
jerrydonovan | Jul 12, 2011, 08:55 AM EDT
please stop identifying these hooligans and thugs as "nationalist".they are what they are,hooligans and thugs nothing else!