Violence Continues After Orange Order parade - Ireland

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Fresh violence erupts in Belfast


Loyalist petrol bombers attacked a Belfast police station as violence flared again on the city's streets.

Cars were set on fire and main roads shut during the third night of disorder.


Mobs went back on the rampage after protestors brought rush-hour chaos on routes out of the city. Police stopped a bus being hijacked on the Crumlin Road, north Belfast, but they were powerless to stop thugs setting fire to two other vehicles in the area.

New Barnsley Police Station in the west of the city, scarred from bomb blasts and vehicle rammings on Sunday night, again attracted loyalist fury. Petrol bombs were pelted against the base's security fencing, and at Cambrai Street where fireworks were also thrown, police said.

Motorists were urged to stay away from the Westlink motorway route as stone throwers launched attacks, while part of the northbound M2 was closed at the Fortwilliam junction because of the disturbances. Crates of petrol bombs and paint bombs were seized during police searches at Ligoniel, north Belfast.

Detectives investigating the rioting, which first erupted on Saturday after a disputed Orange Order parade in west Belfast was controversially re-routed, charged a man with weapons and terrorist offences.

The suspect, aged 34, will appear before Magistrates in the city on Tuesday accused of possessing a gun, ammunition and explosives with intent to endanger life. He has also been charged with possessing material linked to terrorists, police revealed. It follows the discovery of a bomb making factory in the Highfield Estate, north Belfast at the weekend.

The latest outbreak of violence came as the Government prepared to declare an end to the ceasefires of loyalist paramilitaries who brought their gunmen onto the streets during the rioting. Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain finalised plans to deliver an official verdict on the terrorists within the next 48 hours.

Six people arrested during the weekend's rioting appeared at Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday. Four were remanded in custody and two bailed.

Unionist leaders went on the defensive after being accused of not doing enough to defuse the anger surrounding the ban on Orangemen marching past Catholic homes at Saturday's Whiterock parade. But US President George Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland said some political representatives had shirked responsibility. Mitchell Reiss said leadership was needed but claimed: "In the last few days we haven't seen very much of it."

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