Belfast, Northern Ireland – Protestant extremists rioted for a second straight night Sunday, attacking police and burning cars in some of the most widespread street mayhem Belfast has experienced in a decade. The violence followed anger over a restricted parade.
Police advised drivers to avoid several working-class Protestant parts of the city, where thousands of men and youths blocked roads and lobbed numerous objects – including homemade grenades – at police in helmets and body armor.
Chief Constable Hugh Orde, commander of Northern Ireland’s mostly Protestant police, blamed the Orange Order brotherhood for inspiring the riots. The violence began Saturday when police prevented Orangemen from parading near a hard-line Catholic area.
Orde said 32 officers were wounded Saturday and early Sunday while fending off mobs of angry, often drunken Protestant men and teenagers in several parts of Belfast and in seven other predominantly Protestant towns and villages. Two civilians were injured.
He said two outlawed Protestant groups, the Ulster Defense Association and the Ulster Volunteer Force, helped lead the attacks, adding that police seized a bomb factory and seven firearms in raids Sunday.
“We are very lucky we do not have dead officers this morning. It’s a tribute to the way they responded, and it’s a tribute to their tactics,” Orde said.
