Police fired water
cannon after protesters from both sides threw bottles and stones at
officers trying to separate the rival groups in north Belfast. At least
three officers were taken to hospital, a police spokeswoman said.
Since a peace
agreement was signed in 1998, paramilitary violence between the
province's Catholics and Protestants, which had raged on and off for
three decades, has largely ended, but much of Belfast remains divided
along sectarian lines.
Riots often erupt
during the summer months when pro-British Protestant groups hold
traditional parades that are seen as provocative by Catholic Irish
nationalists, many of whom want to be part of a united Ireland.
LONDON (Reuters) - Police in Northern Ireland fired plastic bullets and water cannon on rioters late on Monday in a second night of sectarian clashes between Catholics and Protestants that left nine police officers injured.
Police fired
plastic rounds for the first time during the disturbances after
protesters threw petrol bombs, fireworks, bricks and stones at officers
trying to separate rival groups in north Belfast.
Rioters from the
Protestant group hijacked a van at one point and pushed it at police
lines. At least three of the injured officers were taken to a hospital.
The second night of disturbances followed a march by a Catholic Irish nationalist band in an area where Protestant groups were recently barred from marching.
At least 47
officers were hurt in clashes on Sunday in the dispute over the rights
of the two communities to hold parades in the area.
Last weekend, seven police officers were hurt in the same area when a Protestant band marched past a Catholic church playing music in defiance of a ban from the parades commission, which regulates marches in the province.
Paramilitary violence between the province's mainly
Catholic republicans and pro-British Protestants, which raged on and off
for three decades, has largely ended since a peace agreement was signed
in 1998, but much of Belfast remains divided along sectarian lines.
Riots often erupt during the summer months when
Protestant groups hold traditional parades that are seen as provocative
by Catholic nationalists, many of whom want to be part of a united
Ireland.
(Reporting by Ivan Little; Writing by Stephen Mangan; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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