Sectarian clashes in Belfast follow latest flag protest

Alan Murray in Belfast

January 13 2013 04:48 AM

Loyalist rioters attacked police in east Belfast last night following earlier sectarian clashes with nationalists.

At least 29 PSNI officers were injured in battles with loyalists after the latter had clashed with nationalist youths from Short Strand. Six baton rounds were fired.

Bitter hand-to-hand fighting took place between opposing sectarian factions after trouble erupted as the loyalists were escorted by the PSNI back to the east of the city following a peaceful flag protest outside Belfast City Hall.

Phil Hamilton, of the Progressive Unionist Party, criticised police for not deploying sufficient officers in the Short Strand area to prevent the fracas at the interface.

UUP leader Mike Nesbitt appealed for calm last night after what he described as a "bad 24 hours for the image of unionism". He said street violence from "so-called unionists advances nothing but the cause of Irish nationalism".

Police closed roads leading to Belfast city centre yesterday morning before around 1,000 protesters arrived to protest Belfast City Council's decision in December to cease flying the union flag all year round.

Countless roads have been blocked by protesters during the campaign – in one case north of Belfast a pensioner trying to visit his dying wife in hospital was turned back.

He said: "If your wife was dying what would you be doing? Take yourselves home, show a bit of respect for people." The protesters responded by jeering "cheerio" in a recording made by the BBC.

In west Belfast a GP was twice prevented from attending a home visit with a patient terminally ill with cancer.

This week politicians from Belfast and Dublin will travel to London to discuss possible solutions to the impasse. Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore will take part in the discussions with Northern Ireland secretary Theresa Villiers and Stormont First Minister Peter Robinson and the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness.