Protest clashes close Belfast streets

POLICE IN Northern Ireland fired water cannon and at least one plastic bullet round at rioters after they were attacked with bricks and bottles, in the latest outbreak of anger at the removal of the British flag from Belfast City Hall.

Police said four officers had been injured and 33 petrol bombs thrown.

Hundreds of other protesters brought large areas of Belfast to a standstill, closing at least a dozen roads and forcing the shutdown of the city’s bus service.

The unrest over the past five weeks has been some of the most sustained in the British-controlled province since a 1998 peace deal ended 30 years of conflict between Catholic Irish nationalists seeking union with Ireland and Protestant loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.

Loyalists have held nightly protests since nationalist councillors voted last month to end a century-old tradition of flying the British union flag every day over the city hall, exposing a deep vein of discontent with the peace deal.

Loyalist politicians have joined their nationalist rivals in condemning the violence, but they have been unable to prevent groups of young men draped in British flags from clashing with police.

At least 200 youths, many covering their faces with scarves and hoods, gathered near a roundabout near Newtownabbey in north Belfast yesterday, and some set fire to a double-decker bus.

Within an hour, several dozen were firing petrol bombs, paint bombs and fireworks at police, who responded with water cannon. Hundreds of mainly teenage protesters looked on.

At a separate protest in Carrickfergus, northeast of Belfast, police were pelted with bricks and bottles and responded with one plastic bullet round, police said.

Many roads in central Belfast were deserted after protest organ- isers promised on Twitter to shut down the city. Police reported that at least 12 roads had been closed, although some were later reopened. The city’s main bus routes were suspended, while several intercity routes were delayed.

Protesters have complained that the removal of the flag is a step too far in the ebbing of loyalist dominance in the province, saying too many concessions have been given to nationalists in a power-sharing government. But exasperated residents from both communities have called on the protesters to halt the rioting and address their concerns to politicians.