Disorder erupts despite calls for respect for Royal family

More rioting has broken out in Belfast this evening.

It is the eighth night in a row protestors have taken to the street and attacked police officers.

Officers have been attacked with missiles including bottles and stones in the Tiger's Bay area this evening.

PSNI officers have attended the scene with riot vans and police dogs in tow.

Some officers have come under attack, with missiles, stones, bottles and there are reports of petrol bombs being used.

There are also reports that stones were thrown at police in the nearby New Lodge area.

PSNI Chief Superintendent Muir Clarke has appealed for calm.

He said: "We would appeal for calm in the area and ask anyone who has any influence in communities, please use that influence to ensure young people do not get caught up in criminality and that they are kept safe and away from harm tonight.''

It was one of a number of sporadic incidents of unrest in NI this evening (Friday), following reports of a road barricade which was set alight in Coleraine.

Loyalist leaders had urged the community not to participate in protests on Friday after the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

It comes after rioting broke out last night (Thursday) when officers came under attack with petrol bombs, fireworks, and stones in West Belfast

A water cannon was used by police for the first time in six years to quell crowds gathered on the Springfield Road.

In total, 74 police officers have been injured in more than a week of violence.

Detectives investigating the disorder have charged a 24-year-old man and a 32-year-old man with riot.

The 32-year-old was also charged with possession of a petrol bomb in suspicious circumstances.

They are due to appear before Belfast Magistrates' Court at around 10.30am on Saturday 10.

Earlier today (Friday) at a press conference Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts told reporters that police have ruled out the involvement of loyalist paramilitary groups in organising the violence in Belfast.

It follows a statement from the Loyalist Communities Council (LCC), an umbrella group representing the UVF, UDA and Red Hand Commando, that none of its groups were involved in rioting “either directly or indirectly''.

Mr Roberts said “clear there was a degree of organisation'' to the violence.

Although the PSNI did not confirm paramilitary involvement, they said it was a “likely situation''.

However, Mr Roberts appeared to backtrack on that position on Friday when asked about the LCC statement.

He said: “It's our overall assessment that the violence that has taken place over the last few nights is not orchestrated by a group, in the name of that group.

“There are certainly people who have been engaged in violence who are nothing to do with any illegal organisation.

“There are young people who have gotten involved and for whatever reason that they've decided to do so. "

Deputy First Minister, Michelle O'Neill, said she was “worried about the weekend ahead'' amid ongoing violence on the streets of Northern Ireland.

The Sinn Fein vice president said: "As for the last number of days and the violence we have seen on our streets, that has to be condemned by all quarters.

“I welcome the fact that there is a unity of purpose across all political leaders to say that this is wrong and it needs to stop.

“I'm worried about the weekend ahead. We all need to be very careful and very consciously try to do all we can to prevent this happening.

“I hope and I urge all young people to not engage, do not allow yourself to be used or manipulated in any sort of way, and to stay off the streets, stay home and stay safe.”

The violence is unfolding at a time of increasing rancour in the political sphere amid tensions over the post-Brexit Irish Sea trade border and the fallout from the police's handling of the mass republican funeral that took place during pandemic restrictions last year.

Unionists are furious at a decision by prosecutors not to take action against 24 Sinn Fein politicians, including deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill, for attending the funeral of former IRA leader Bobby Storey, a decision partly related to the fact that police had engaged with organisers before the event that drew 2,000 people on to the streets.

Drugs seizures against a dissident faction of the UDA in south-east Antrim have also been blamed.

Read More:

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