A CCTV network aimed at reducing the drunken violence which marred recent St Patrick's Day celebrations in Belfast's student district has been launched.
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The £100,000 pilot system of 12 cameras will allow police to monitor the Holyland area in the south of the city 24 hours a day.
It is one of a number of initiatives undertaken in a bid to avoid the riotous scenes that blighted the heavily populated residential streets last year.
A number of police officers were injured on the day during long disturbances involving hundreds of inebriated students.
"It will go some way to addressing anti-social behaviour in the area but it has to be seen as a benefit to every one. This is not a 'them and us'. This is for the good of the wider community and students are a part of that", QUB Students Union representative, Laura Hawthorne told UTV.
The closed circuit network is a joint project involving the police, the city council and a number of government agencies.
The system will be supported by 25 council wardens who are to start patrolling the area.
Chairman of the council's health and environmental services committee Pat McCarthy said:
"These plans have been in the pipeline for some time and I'm delighted to be here today to see how real partnership working has delivered, helping to create a safer Belfast for all."
The scheme is being run on a pilot basis for a year and may be rolled out in other locations in the city after a 12 month review.
PSNI area commander Chief Inspector Trevor O'Neill said the CCTV cameras would be a very effective tool in tackling the issues which had been plaguing the area.
"Holyland residents are entitled to a good quality of life, just like everybody else," he said.
"We are confident that the cameras will be yet another very helpful tool in ensuring that those set on making other people's lives a misery in this area will be identified and dealt with robustly.
Sinn Fein MLA Alex Maskey told UTV the cameras will help to some degree, but they are not the final solution.
"I believe that the cameras and other measures are very important", he said.
"This area is just vastly over-populated. The housing management here has just been disgracefully negligent for many years so we have to deal with the core of the problem rather than what really are in effect the symptoms."
SDLP South Belfast MP Alasdair McDonnell said the cameras were welcomed.
"The situation in the Holylands is quite complex and we should be wary of anyone proposing sweeping or simplistic solutions.
"Swift apprehension of troublemakers is obviously very important (...) and the CCTV scheme will help do that.
South Belfast Alliance MLA Anna Lo also welcomed the move.
"There have been a number of robberies and burglaries in the area and I would hope these CCTV cameras will have another purpose in acting as a deterrent to them as well."
The streets covered by the CCTV cameras are:
- College Park Avenue/Carmel Street junction
- Agincourt Avenue/Collingwood Avenue junction
- Agincourt Avenue/Carmel Street junction
- University Avenue/Carmel Street junction
- College Park Avenue/Rugby Road junction
- Rugby Avenue/Jerusalem Street junction
- Agincourt Avenue/Rugby Court junction
© UTV News