Police cleared over riot tactics

The security forces came under attack in the Ardoyne area

The Police Service of Northern Ireland has been cleared of blame after violence erupted following a loyal order parade in a flashpoint area of north Belfast.

Dozens of police and soldiers were injured during clashes with nationalists in Ardoyne after the annual Orange Order parade on 12 July.

The parade had been restricted by the Northern Ireland Parades Commission, which ruled that only lodge members and marshals could take part in the parade back to Ballysillan as it passed the Ardoyne shops.

Both nationalist and unionist politicians criticised the way in which the parade was handled, and Sinn Fein claimed the PSNI tactics had triggered the worst rioting in the city for two years.

However, a report by two human rights experts, Keir Starmer QC and Jane Gordon, who were appointed by the Northern Ireland Policing Board, has vindicated the operation.

The report, presented to the Policing Board on Thursday, said they were satisfied that the PSNI "properly took all the relevant factors into account" in deciding that they could not lawfully exercise their powers to prevent the group of followers/supporters from moving up the contentious part of the route.

Security was tight as the parade returned through Ardoyne

It said: "It follows that the PSNI decision to allow the followers/supporters up the contentious part of the route was lawful because their judgment that the behaviour of the followers/supporters did not justify holding them for a prolonged period... cannot be faulted."

With heavy fencing to keep loyalists and nationalists apart, crowds accompanying the marchers were allowed along the road several minutes after the Orangemen had paraded through.

The decision inflamed the residents, and after missiles were thrown from both sides, nationalist youths attacked police and Army. A total of 25 PSNI officers and 10 soldiers were injured.

Force was used by the PSNI five times during the outbreak, with the human rights team finding three of these occasions justified, said the report.

'Legal framework'

However, the report said further evidence was needed before an assessment could be made about the other two instances.

Amid fierce criticism at the time, Belfast's top police officer, Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland, insisted his officers had followed the law in policing the parade.

The report said a legal attempt to overturn the Parades Commission decision to bar any supporters from walking past Ardoyne had caused further confusion when it was ruled that they were not included in any determination.

With police left to decide whether they posed a big enough risk to stop them, the report warned of major problems ahead.

"(This) will have a profound and detrimental effect on the ability of the PSNI to police parades in the future," the report said.

"The significance of this conclusion cannot be underestimated. It goes to the heart of the legal framework for policing parades in Northern Ireland.

"In our view, it is critical that the implications of this are fully realised and resolved as soon as possible."

North Belfast DUP MP Nigel Dodds welcomed the report and said the police handling of the situation had been vindicated.

"This bears out our contention at the time of the absolute legality of allowing supporters and relatives to walk home on the Twelfth of July," he said.

"No nationalist or republican can now credibly maintain their previous position."

He said the Parades Commission needed to accept that its "bizarre and illogical" decisions had exacerbated problems rather than creating solutions.

Fred Cobain, an Ulster Unionist Policing Board member, said the report destroyed republican and nationalist claims that the parade was unlawful or that supporters were displaying paramilitary insignia.

The North Belfast MLA added: "Serious mistakes were made by the Parades Commission which calls into question their very existence and backs up the critical comments made about the body."

The SDLP's Alex Attwood said the report was "deeply flawed".

He said the report failed to recognise that the Parades Commission did not want march supporters to go along the road.

"The police could have and should have used their public order powers to stop the supporters getting up past Ardoyne shops," he said.