Updated 10.00pm
A POLICE OFFICER in Belfast almost lost a finger and another sustained a serious wound to his ear as it emerges some 25 officers were injured in total during riots in the city.
A man aged 61 was charged tonight with attempted murder after a car ploughed into pedestrians last night in Ardoyne.
While a man and woman, both aged 22, have been charged with a number of offences that took place in the city centre including grievous bodily harm, assault on police, threats to kill and disorderly behaviour.
The pair are due to appear in court tomorrow, the charges relate to an incident on May Street where two officers were injured.
There was a heavy police presence in three areas of North Belfast during the parades. Police stopped a parade from entering an nationalist area in Woodvale which resulted in scuffles.
They were also stationed at Twaddell Avenue and in the area of Ardoyne shop fronts where a large group of republicans had gathered.
Knocked down
At a press conference today, Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said during this time a car knocked down and injured two females at the shop fronts.
“One was a 16-year-old girl who became trapped under the vehicle and another was an older lady who sustained a suspected fractured wrist,” he said.
This evening, the PSNI said that a 61-year-old man has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and will appear at Belfast Magistrates court tomorrow morning.
Martin added:
Police officers at the scene quickly moved to stop the vehicle, and indeed a number of officers were struck by the vehicle, detained and subsequently arrested the occupant of the car which was one sole driver and then physically lifted the vehicle up onto its side to recover the young girl who was trapped underneath.
Injured police officers
In total 25 police officers were injured, five at incidents in the centre of Belfast and another 20 in North Belfast. Many of their injuries were relatively minor, Martin said, but a number of them are much more serious.
We have a senior officer, an inspector, with a serious head injury in which one of his ears has become detached and he will be receiving surgery today and indeed we had another officer that is being widely reported who had a severe injury to his finger and the surgeon has said, if he was not wearing his motorcycle glove, he would have had his finger bitten off.
In the Woodvale area missiles, rocks, stones and bottles were hurled at police while in Twaddell police were attacked with paint bombs, petrol bombs and other missiles. Police fired baton rounds into crowds and used water cannons to quell disorder.
They arrested nine people, seven male and two female.
One has already appeared in court, one has been released for report, one has been bailed and six remain in custody. The driver of the vehicle that hit the teenage girl and woman is being interviewed in relation to attempted murder.
“There is also an investigation swinging into place in respect of those who committed disorder last night and we will be reviewing images and our own evidence gathering operation and people who were engaged in that disorder can expect the police to come looking for them and to bring them before the criminal justice system in the days that lie ahead,” Martin said.
There will also be an investigation into reported breaches of Parades Commission determinations.
- Additional reporting Aoife Barry
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