NI leaders urged to take action after riots

Published Tuesday, 13 July 2010

First Minister Peter Robinson has branded a senior PSNI officer's call for political leaders to do more to prevent marching season violence as "unhelpful and unacceptable."

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Aftermath of Ardoyne riots
Aftermath in Ormeau area
‘Blame game’ over Belfast riots

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GALLERY

Bonfire on 11th night at A rticlave Co.Londonderry

Assistant Chief Constable Alistair Finlay said on Tuesday morning that more needs to be done by leading politicians to calm tensions after what he described as "a very difficult night," during which 55 PSNI officers were wounded.

He urged the First Minister and Deputy First Minister to do more to calm tensions, saying: "There are individual politicians working very hard on this, but are we seeing First Minister and the Deputy First Minister stepping out to condemn this?

"I haven't heard from them, I didn't hear from them before the Twelfth of July... we didn't see joined-up, strategic leadership from politicians who are entrusted and voted for by the community to deliver a cohesive society."

In a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon the First Minister responded: "I am disappointed to hear some of the comments from ACC Finlay and look forward to meeting with the Chief Constable shortly to discuss the events of the last forty eight hours and ACC Finlay's unhelpful and unacceptable remarks.

"We must keep our entire focus on defeating those who would seek through violence and destruction to drag us back.

"I would like to thank the PSNI officers on the ground for all their efforts to restore law and order to our streets. In particular my thoughts and prayers are with the policewoman injured in the course of her duties last night," he continued.

Constable Finlay's comments came after a night of continued disturbances across the country, during which 70 baton rounds and water cannons used by police.

Tuesday night's incidents brought the total number of injured police officers to 82 over the past two days.

In north Belfast a policewoman was rushed to hospital after being struck with a piece of masonry during riots in the Ardoyne area.

Meanwhile in the south of the city petrol bombs were thrown at police and burning wheelie bins were used to blockade the Ormeau Road.

In Londonderry a masked man opened fire on police during a riot in the Bogside, where youths also threw petrol bombs at PSNI vehicles.

The week leading up to the parades saw sporadic riots at flashpoints across Belfast. Three officers were injured - one of them hospitalised - after a masked man with a shotgun opened fire in North Queen Street.

Police tackled ongoing disorder in the Broadway area with water cannons, which were used to keep up to 200 nationalist youths armed with petrol bombs and missiles at bay.

Junior Sinn Fein minister Gerry Kelly also reacted angrily to the comments from ACC Finlay, saying that the blame should not be "lumped on to the First and Deputy First Ministers as if they have a magic wand".

Responding to Constable Finlay's criticisms the North Belfast MLA said: "He should stay out of politics.

"I argued with him during the day about the situation. If he wants to talk to the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister all he has to do is lift the phone."

Comments

63 Comments

stevie in belfast wrote (678 days ago):

Ulster loyalist wrote, Remember the last time republicans started. The British army ended having to come in to save them...Really, the british army came in as loyalist bigots were burning men, women and children from their homes while hiding behind the police(no change there), loyalists couldnt even tie their shoelaces without the ruc/armys help never mind taking on anyone so dont go rewriting history.

@ BE, So rioters are only from housing executive houses now are they? do you ever read the gibberish you type. in your post you blame the people of ardoyne, then people from ardoyne and beyond, sure the other day you even blamed sinn fein,the sdlp,and catholic priests. How do you come up with this nonsense?

seamas in belfast wrote (678 days ago):

BE. Actually you’re wrong I am from Ardoyne. Like many other people from Ardoyne I have protestant relatives who live in Glenbryn and Ballysillan and that’s why I don’t refer to people from those areas as scum. I think it’s you that’s not local or you would understand that .The vast majority of protestant people in Glenbryn and Ballysillan are decent hardworking Christians who would never dream of offending their neighbours. Once again you’ve muddied the waters by referring to supporters making their way home when what we’re talking about is an Orange parade. I have no problem with anyone walking home up the Crumlin Road. People from Ballysillan or Silverstream are entitled to use the Crumlin Road or any other road for that matter. My objection is to an Orange Parade past Catholic homes. What we had on the 12th evening was an Orange parade. Not just people walking home, an Orange Parade. Instead of you and I debating this on the UTV site why don’t the Parade Organisers sit down with the residents and explain why it’s not an offensive activity. Explain why there’s no alternative route. If your next door neighbour knocked your door to complain about something would you slam it in his face or give him the common courtesy of at least listening to him? Assuming he’s not scum that is!

BIG ERNEST in east antrim wrote (678 days ago):

seamus , there is no alternitive route home for the supporters , 2000 of them walked up the crumlin road , many women and children were in the crowd , i take it your not from around that area as you seem to have no idea that ardoyne is not effected by the parade , i have told you that those hell bent on trouble come from ardoyne and not mountainview which is on the left hand side when going up the road , it is mixed and not housing executive either so i cant see rioters nor protestors coming from there , that is the only area that the parade passes that is contreversial , not ardoyne as ardoyne is not on the crumlin road !!strange also how sf can organise a protest in the morning with protestors standing between the lodgemen on the road , no trouble then so who really is to blame here then ? not sf , not the orange order but who ? the scum from ardoyne and beyond !! seamus you still have not given me an alternitive route for this number of people , right down the antrim road is catholic too , so where do they get the route available ? how about those on the ardoyne shopfronts staying off the crumlin road seeing as they are never on it any other time of the year past 6pm !! thats another fact seamus !! so basically they are looking for trouble on a road that is 95% prod yet they claim they are the majority on it which is laughable to say the least !!

seamas in belfast wrote (679 days ago):

U32. The Orange Order itself is inconsistent. At least the public face it puts on is. The purpose of Orange Parades is to publically demonstrate Orange authority in our society. That’s why they’re called demonstrations. The OO won’t state that publically of course. Instead they have propagated a myth that Orangeism is a harmless cultural phenomenon. They have also convinced many people that Orangeism equates to Protestantism but it doesn’t. There is no doctrinal link between evangelical Protestantism and Orangeism. The OO isn’t mentioned in the Bible. There are plenty of Protestant people who have never heard of the OO and plenty more who want nothing to do with it. The reality is that Orangeism is extreme, and often violent, protestant unionism. It has a long history of violence against Catholics and oversaw the Northern State from 1921 to 1972 with all that that entailed. Part of the problem here is the utter failure of the media to properly present Orangeism. There have been countless hours of coverage of Drumcree and now of Ardoyne but it all deals with the violent behaviour of residents. There is no attempt to explain why residents object to parades. Orange representatives are never questioned as to why certain routes are traditional. How can the venue for this years Field be changed? Was that not traditional? Was that not sacrosanct? There is no close examination of association of the OO with various loyalist paramilitary groups either. The media give the OO a very soft ride here. And without fully understanding why residents object to OO parades it’s easy to believe those objections are mischievous or driven by anti protestant feeling

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