Senior officer condemns attacks

A senior police officer has condemned recent attacks on PSNI patrols and firefighters in west Belfast.

Rioters threw bricks and other missiles at officers protecting firefighters on the Andersonstown Road and Gransha Park on Saturday.

Inspector Norman Haslett said attacks on the emergency services "shouldn't happen in a normal society".

"I appeal to anyone with influence in the community to use that influence to stop these attacks," he said.

"We were protecting our colleagues in the fire service as they attempted to resolve the situation and as we did so, we came under sustained attack by a group of approximately 150 youths."

Two police officers were slightly injured when they came under attack by a crowd of youths on the Andersonstown Road.

Trouble began at 2200 BST after police and fire crews arrived at a petrol station on the Andersonstown Road when a gas cylinder was set alight.

One policeman suffered a head injury and a policewoman received a leg injury after officers were attacked with bricks and other missiles.

Elderly couple

Five Land Rovers were also damaged. One man and a teenager were arrested in connection with the disturbance.

Earlier, police were attacked with stones, fireworks and a petrol bomb after they were called to an incident at the home of an elderly couple in Gransha Park.

Paddy and Maureen Magee were treated for shock and the effects of smoke after fireworks were pushed through their letterbox.

Mrs Magee said they were targeted for "constant stone-throwing and harassment" but on Saturday their garden had "nearly went on fire with fireworks".

"I do expect that coming up to Halloween, but not when they open your gate and throw them through your letter box," she said.

"I shouted after them, 'I'm going to phone the police on you lot, I'm not putting up with any more,' and they started calling me bad names."

'Horror'

West Belfast SDLP Councillor Tim Attwood condemned the violence and said it was "deeply wrong" to have elderly people "living in fear of young hooligans".

"In the last few weeks, people across the north watched on in horror as loyalist youths destroyed their own areas and property with mindless violence," he said.

"Last night's scene reflected some of that and it must stop."

Sinn Fein's Michael Ferguson said both incidents were "shameful" and could not be justified.

"We are lucky in both cases that people are not injured, in hospital, or dead," he said.