Photograph by Joshua Hayes
56 police officers and two members of the public have been injured in Belfast as a loyalist demonstration against republican parade turned violent yesterday.
The loyalist protesters reportedly threw bricks and bottles at the police as they waited for the parade to arrive, with the police describing the violent crowd as “intent on creating disorder”, with two members of the public injured and a number of shops damaged.
The police responded with the use of water canons, plastic bullets, and dogs.
The republican parade had obtained permission to mark the introduction of internment in 1971, and loyalist protesters were given permission for six protest sites along the route, with the police implementing a large-scale operation in an attempt to keep the peace.
Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers described the riots as a “shameful…step backwards” for a country which has seen much progress against sectarianism in recent years since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
