Police attacked with petrol bombs in Belfast

[The Thin White Duke]

The police have been attacked with petrol bombs in north Belfast as trouble flared for the second consecutive night.

Stones, bottles and fireworks have also been thrown at officers in the Woodvale area. Water cannon have been deployed.

It follows serious rioting on Friday night when 32 police officers and an MP were injured. Another 400 police officers have been brought into Northern Ireland to assist the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

BBC Northern Ireland reporter Mark Simpson said on Saturday: "Hundreds of police officers are trying to stop the violence spreading.

"So far, they are succeeding but the trouble does not seem likely to stop any time soon."

Our correspondent said a police officer was hit by a petrol bomb during the rioting. The officer's colleagues quickly extinguished the flames.

The BBC's Andy Martin, in Belfast, said the rioting was "nowhere near as bad" as on Friday night.

Meanwhile, Castlereagh Street in east Belfast has now re-opened to traffic after crowds had gathered earlier.

Chief Constable Matt Baggott has described the 12 July trouble as "shameful and disgraceful".

It... looks bad.

 

[Chief KazamiNator]

Doesn't come as a surprise, it's Europe we're talking about. The police state continues expanding while freedoms are slowly being abolished. Same is happening here in the states as we speak, just under our noses is all.

 

[The Thin White Duke]

Doesn't come as a surprise, it's Europe we're talking about. The police state continues expanding while freedoms are slowly being abolished. Same is happening here in the states as we speak, just under our noses is all.

No, that's not it. Let me explain.
The 12th of July is the anniversary of Protestant (future) king William III defeating Catholic (current) king James II by the Boyne river in 1690. William II was later called William of Orange, so the Loyalist (people in Northern Ireland who want the country to be part of Britain, mostly Protestants) people set up the Orange Order. Every 12th July they celebrate it by having parades where they play their theme, 'The Sash', and many other tunes on drums and flutes. But it usually gets out of hand, when Loyalist people (sometimes) act overly sectarian to the Nationalist people (Opposite to Loyalists, mostly Catholics). Sometimes riots occur and police are called in to stop it. The Loyalist people protest and say that it's their day, they should celebrate, and attack police with petrol bombs and stones. This Friday they did something completely stupid: they played 'The Sash' outside of a Catholic cathedral while mass was on. The police tried to stop them and again, they were attacked.

How do I know? I've personally experienced it.

 

[Impossabro]

NWA once said....

 

[Axe to Fall]

There seems to me that rioting is very commonplace is the UK. Is this true?

 

[Lysandre]

Seems like the opposite of the USA, where we're becoming increasingly fearful of our police force. This is quite sad, I'm selfishly glad that this sort of thing rarely happens on this side of the pond.