BELFAST RIOTING LEAVES 15 OFFICERS INJURED; LEADERS APPEAL FOR CALM

Sat 03 April 2021:

Fifteen officers have been injured in clashes with protesters that broke out in the city of Belfast, the Northern Irish police said on Saturday.

A small protest by unionists angered by perceived post-Brexit barriers between the country and the rest of the United Kingdom broke out on Sandy Row street on Friday night but soon turned into an attack on officers, the police said.

“A total of fifteen officers were injured after being subjected to a sustained attack by rioters,” a statement read.

Officers suffered burns, head and leg injuries after being struck by bricks, metal rods, fireworks and manhole covers. Four of them were too injured to report for duty.

The majority of those involved in the unrest were young people. Eight rioters were arrested, including two boys aged 13 and 14.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said 15 officers were injured and eight people arrested, including boys aged 13 and 14.

All of those arrested were 25 or younger.

Mr Lewis said: “Violence is never the answer. There is no place for it in society.

“It is unwanted, unwarranted and I fully support the PSNI appeal for calm.”

He said his thoughts were with the officers injured.

Mrs Foster, who is leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), said: ” I know that many of our young people are hugely frustrated by the events of this last week but causing injury to police officers will not make things better.

“I appeal to our young people not to get drawn into disorder which will lead to them having criminal convictions and blighting their own lives.”

Northern Ireland’s Secretary Brandon Lewis Brandon Lewis called the scenes of chaos “completely unacceptable.” He said violence was never the answer and there was no place for it in society.

Meanwhile Stormont’s first minister has joined calls for calm after riots in Belfast, urging young people “not to get drawn into disorder” and parents to protect their children.

The riots, in Sandy Row, followed four consecutive nights of disturbances in the unionist Waterside area of Derry. It comes against the backdrop of tensions within loyalism across Northern Ireland.

Loyalists and unionists have argued that post-Brexit trading arrangements create barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Tensions escalated further this week after authorities decided not to prosecute 24 Sinn Féin politicians over their attendance at a large-scale republican funeral during Covid-19 restrictions.