From: "Stasi" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [Peoples War] Ireland: Police attacked during Belfast riots - BBC Friday, 11 January, 2002, 00:04 GMT http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1750000/video/_1754356_belfast00_kingstone_vi. ram The BBC's Steve Kingstone: "Youths line up for another night of rioting" Police attacked during Belfast riots ======================== http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/uk/northern_ireland/newsid_1754000/1754090. stm Hijacked cars were set alight by rioters Serious rioting has erupted in north Belfast for the second night in a row with the security forces coming under sustained attack from nationalists and loyalists. A blast bomb was thrown at police lines in the flashpoint area of Ardoyne, where up to 300 nationalist rioters also used petrol bombs, fireworks, bricks and bottles. At least one soldier received burns to his face after a group of loyalists hurled acid bombs in nearby Twaddell Avenue. Police have threatened to respond with plastic bullets unless the attacks stop. Schools have also been targets of aggression - earlier on Thursday a group of men entered a Catholic secondary school and smashed 17 vehicles in the car park as pupils looked on. Protestant pupils at another school were driven home in armoured police vehicles. Meanwhile, it has been announced that the Catholic Holy Cross girls' primary school, which was closed after clashes on Wednesday, will re-open on Friday. Thursday's violence comes just 24 hours after scores of officers were injured and four civilians received wounds from shotgun pellets during sustained sectarian rioting. Police say the latest trouble began at about 1900GMT when about 100 nationalist youths attacked police Land Rovers in Brompton Park in Ardoyne. The security forces blocked off the Crumlin Road to try to contain the violence and a number of people have been arrested. It has also been reported that a journalist was slightly injured after being hit with a missile. Protestant and Catholic schools were forced to take action amid the rising tension on Thursday, with some pupils being sent home early. Bus hijack The concerns followed the attack on vehicles at the Catholic Our Lady Of Mercy Secondary School in the Protestant Ballysillan area of north Belfast. The teachers' union, INTO, said its members were contemplating strike action in protest at the developments. "We are going to resist the pressure we are coming under to have any sort of protest, and we are calling on people to remain calm" Community worker Mark Coulter Elsewhere, police said a pregnant bus driver was hijacked by a crowd of men at the Ardoyne shops and ordered to drive as one held a hammer against her head. First Minister David Trimble has described the scenes in north Belfast as depressing. He said the trouble was obstructing efforts to set up a community forum aimed at improving the situation on the ground. Measures would be discussed with community activists on Friday, he said. "We're prepared to put resources into mediation if mediation is going to be the way in which we get that forum into existence," he said. Parents' choice But the extent of the increased tension was voiced by residents of Upper Ardoyne who accused nationalists of trying to provoke them into resuming their protest at Holy Cross School. Community worker Mark Coulter, who attended a meeting of the Glenbryn residents committee and political representatives on Thursday, called on police to step up security. "People are very, very clear that they are not going to be used as political pawns by anyone," he said. The chairman of the board of governors at Holy Cross, Father Aidan Troy, said the decision to re-open the school on Friday had been taken on Thursday night in the "interests of staff and pupils". He said it was up to parents to decide if they wanted to send their children to school. Assistant chief constable Alan McQuillan said the street trouble on Wednesday started after a confrontation between two women outside the school. In the hours of rioting which followed, more than 136 petrol bombs, acid bom bs and bricks were thrown as pitched battles took place between hundreds of youths and the police. Police fired eight baton rounds during the violence and three people were arrested. One man appeared in court on Thursday. _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
