Newtownabbey: Police responding to reports of disorder
- Published
Disturbances have broken out in Newtownabbey amid fears there may be another night of trouble ahead in NI.
Police are responding to reports of disorder at the Cloughfern roundabout in the O'Neill Road area.
Footage has emerged on social media of cars being hijacked and set on fire. Petrol bombs have been thrown at police vehicles.
It follows Friday's night of violence in which 27 police officers were injured in Belfast and Londonderry.
The PSNI has appealed for calm in Newtownabbey and asked anyone with any influence in the community to try to ensure young people do not get caught up in criminality.
Alliance assembly member John Blair said the violence had to be "utterly condemned" and there was a "need for calm and for parents to check where their children are".
Sinn Féin assembly Gerry Kelly said the the disturbances in loyalist areas were "an out-working of the DUP's rhetoric and undermining of the PSNI and criminal justice system".
"By their words and actions they have sent a very dangerous message to young people in loyalist areas," he said.