SDLP concern over plastic bullets

Security forces have had to keep the factions apart

The use of plastic baton rounds during rioting in north Belfast is to be raised with the Northern Ireland security minister and acting chief constable.

The SDLP has expressed concern about plastic bullets which were fired as the security forces came under attack in the Ardoyne area on Sunday night.

It followed sectarian clashes between rival gangs at the interface between Twaddell Avenue and the Ardoyne shops.

Blast bombs, petrol bombs, stones, fireworks and other missiles were thrown by the factions at each other and at security lines.

Martin Morgan: Concern over use of baton rounds

A police spokesman said they came under "sustained attack" from about 150 youths throwing missiles.

A number of baton rounds were fired by the police as they and the Army came under attack.

But SDLP councillor Martin Morgan said they needed to find another way to deal with these situations.

"One of the questions which the SDLP will raise in the coming days with the acting chief constable and the security minister is in terms of how these baton rounds are discharged, the rules surrounding their discharge," he said.

"And also a breakdown of which community are the RUC/Police Service of Northern Ireland firing plastic bullets at."

Rioters

At one point a section of the rioters tried to drag a policewoman out of an armoured Land Rover.

Bomb disposal experts were called to the scene to examine what was believed to have been an unexploded pipe bomb. However, it proved to have been harmless.

It was claimed that houses on Twaddell Avenue were attacked by rioters.

One woman said her car, which she used to transport her disabled daughter, had been vandalised.

Frank McCoubrey, an independent loyalist councillor, said there had been appeals last week for the security forces to protect the Protestant community in Twaddell Avenue.

"If they are not prepared to do that, then that community will take it upon themselves to protect that community," he said.

Tensions

On Thursday, a bomb exploded setting an oil tank on fire during clashes between rival factions in north Belfast.

There were reports of gunfire as crowds of youths threw petrol bombs and missiles on the Ardoyne Road and Hesketh Road.

Earlier this month, the police blamed loyalist paramilitaries for orchestrating rioting and petrol and blast bomb attacks on the police.

There have been sporadic outbreaks of trouble in interface areas of north Belfast for almost a year since last summer.

Tensions between the Protestant and Catholic communities have remained high.