FOUR MEN AGED between 18 and 41 have been charged with public order offences after the violent clashes in the Ardoyne area of Belfast last night.
The four, aged 18, 22, 24 and 41, are due to appear before Belfast Magistrates Court tomorrow.
At least 10 bullets were fired at police lines at Brompton Park, close to Ardoyne Road, the PSNI said today. More than ten PSNI officers were injured in the disturbances which broke out after Orange Order parades commemorating 12 July passed through nationalist areas.
Police used a water cannon and plastic bullets to dispel rioters, who threw petrol bombs at police lines and set fire to a car.
“I am angry that we have these three days of annual madness where it seems that everybody thinks the peacekeepers are a legitimate target,” said Assistant Chief Constable in the PSNI Will Kerr.
“We will be making a significant number of arrests, as we did last year, over the course of the new weeks and months to make sure that people are placed before the courts and answer for their decisions”.
The trouble flared yesterday when a small number of Orange Order members marched through the Ardoyne escorted by police, before a counter-parade by residents of the Ardoyne area was also held. Violence broke out as the two groups faced-off across police lines.
(Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire)
- Additional reporting by AFP
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