27/09/2001
Gun and bomb attacks injure 33 police officers
Thirty-three police officers were injured as a result of gun and bomb attacks on September 26 in the Ardoyne area.
Loyalists on Cambrai Street and the Crumlin Road threw six blast bombs, 125 petrol bombs at police, and over 50 shots were fired at officers in two sustained bursts of automatic machine gun fire. A bus and car were also hijacked and set on fire.
In response police fired four live rounds and nine plastic baton rounds at loyalists.
Army technical officers were called to defuse one crude bomb which was packed with nails.
Earlier in the afternoon loyalists threw a number of fireworks at parents escorting their children from the Holy Cross primary school. The attack caused widespread distress and panic.
Speaking after the attacks SDLP MLA and Agricultural Minister Brid Rodgers said it was clear that fireworks were now being used as weapons against children, adults and police.
She said: “Halloween will be on us soon and the market will again be flooded with both legal and illegal fireworks. This is a deeply worrying prospect particularly at this time of unrest. The Secretary of State should urgently review the open sales of fireworks and strengthen the penalties against those caught in possession of illegal pyrotechnics.”
Sinn Fein councillor Margaret McClenaghan said that the attacks could only be described as “sick” and that the clear intention is, like the other UDA orchestrated attacks in North Belfast, to terrorise the nationalist population and drive them from the area. (CD)
Loyalists on Cambrai Street and the Crumlin Road threw six blast bombs, 125 petrol bombs at police, and over 50 shots were fired at officers in two sustained bursts of automatic machine gun fire. A bus and car were also hijacked and set on fire.
In response police fired four live rounds and nine plastic baton rounds at loyalists.
Army technical officers were called to defuse one crude bomb which was packed with nails.
Earlier in the afternoon loyalists threw a number of fireworks at parents escorting their children from the Holy Cross primary school. The attack caused widespread distress and panic.
Speaking after the attacks SDLP MLA and Agricultural Minister Brid Rodgers said it was clear that fireworks were now being used as weapons against children, adults and police.
She said: “Halloween will be on us soon and the market will again be flooded with both legal and illegal fireworks. This is a deeply worrying prospect particularly at this time of unrest. The Secretary of State should urgently review the open sales of fireworks and strengthen the penalties against those caught in possession of illegal pyrotechnics.”
Sinn Fein councillor Margaret McClenaghan said that the attacks could only be described as “sick” and that the clear intention is, like the other UDA orchestrated attacks in North Belfast, to terrorise the nationalist population and drive them from the area. (CD)
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