Unrest in Northern Ireland: 27 police officers injured as riots occur in Belfast and Derry 

Another night of riots and disorder continued in Northern Ireland last night as 27 police officers have been injured. 

Eight people were also arrested during the unrest and seven people have since been charged with riot after disturbances in the Sandy Row area of south Belfast on Friday, police said.

Petrol bombs, bricks and fireworks were thrown at police lines with a crowd of up to 200 people involved in the disturbances, which followed a protest advertised on social media earlier in the day.

Yesterday afternoon Belfast District Commander Chief Superintendent Simon Walls said the injuries to officers included burns, head and leg injuries, and strongly condemned the “appalling behaviour”.

The unrest comes after some loyalists and unionists are angry about post-Brexit trading arrangements, which they believe has created barriers between the country and the UK.

This tension escalated this week after the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) decided not to prosecute 24 Sinn Féin politicians for attending the large funeral of republican Bobby Storey, which flouted Covid-19 restrictions.

Three men aged 25, 21 and 18, a 19-year-old woman and three youths aged 17, 14 and 13 have been charged and are expected to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court and Belfast Youth Court towards the end of April.

A 19-year-old man was also arrested following the disorder on Friday night has been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

Last night a number of hijacked cars were set on fire during a riot in Newtownabbey.

Masked men threw petrol bombs and other missiles at PSNI Land Rovers during the disorder near the Cloughfern roundabout on O’Neill’s Road. The roundabout was also on fire for a period.

The PSNI appealed for calm in the area last night. A police spokesperson said: “We would appeal for calm in the area and ask anyone who has any influence in communities please, use that influence to ensure young people do not get caught up in criminality and that they are kept safe and away from harm tonight."

A care home was damaged in Derry and 12 officers were injured.

The PSNI said the officers sustained head, leg and foot wounds after they came under attack in Tullyally and Nelson Drive from a large group of young people throwing masonry, bottles, petrol bombs and fireworks.

The Police Federation for Northern Ireland has called for an end to the violence.

A spokesperson said people destroying their own communities is "not the way to protest or vent".

The representative body for police officers tweeted: "What is the point in this?

"Destroying your own communities is not the way to protest or vent. Why is it always our @PoliceServiceNI colleagues who face the brunt of this pointless violence?"

Alliance MLA John Blair said the violence should be "utterly condemned".

He said there was a "need for calm and for parents to check where their children are".

Sinn Fein MLA Gerry Kelly said 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.

First Minister Arlene Foster warned young people not to get "drawn into disorder”, an appeal echoed by Secretary of State Brandon Lewis, who said the violence was “completely unacceptable”.

Mrs Foster said: “I know that many of our young people are hugely frustrated by the events of this last week but causing injury to police officers will not make things better.

"I appeal to our young people not to get drawn into disorder which will lead to them having criminal convictions and blighting their own lives.”

With reporting from the Belfast Telegraph

Online Editors