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04/01/2013
Police Officers Injured In Flag Protests
Ten officers have been injured following another night of rioting and violence over the flying of the union flag at Belfast City Hall.
Crowds threw petrol bombs and missiles after a peaceful protest turned violent at about 18:30 on Thursday on the Albertbridge Road in east Belfast.
A car was also burnt out on Templemore Avenue.
A 23-year-old has been charged with rioting and is due to appear in Belfast Magistrates Court later.
A 16-year-old is to appear at a juvenile court later this month.
Police said the crowd involved in the violence was about 100 strong.
Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton was speaking on BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme when he explained: "It was initiated by the loyalist protesters and unfortunately for a number of weeks now we have been trying to facilitate lawful protest and we have been trying to do that in a proportionate and a graduated way.
"This sort of disorder last night is completely despicable and what we have seen is ten police officers injured this morning."
Protests have been taking place in loyalist and unionist communities following the decision on 3 December 2012 to restrict the flying of the union flag above Belfast City Hall.
Previously, it had flown all year round, but nationalists at Belfast City Council agreed to back an Alliance Party motion to bring the flying of the flag in line with the rest of the UK.
It will now only fly on designated days such as the Queen’s Birthday and Remembrance Sunday.
Since the protests began, several politicians across the party spectrum have received death threats and suffered attacks on their constituency offices.
The PSNI are also investigating the attempted murder of a police officer, who was sitting in a car when a gang of men smashed windows and threw a lit petrol bomb inside.
(IT)
Crowds threw petrol bombs and missiles after a peaceful protest turned violent at about 18:30 on Thursday on the Albertbridge Road in east Belfast.
A car was also burnt out on Templemore Avenue.
A 23-year-old has been charged with rioting and is due to appear in Belfast Magistrates Court later.
A 16-year-old is to appear at a juvenile court later this month.
Police said the crowd involved in the violence was about 100 strong.
Assistant Chief Constable George Hamilton was speaking on BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme when he explained: "It was initiated by the loyalist protesters and unfortunately for a number of weeks now we have been trying to facilitate lawful protest and we have been trying to do that in a proportionate and a graduated way.
"This sort of disorder last night is completely despicable and what we have seen is ten police officers injured this morning."
Protests have been taking place in loyalist and unionist communities following the decision on 3 December 2012 to restrict the flying of the union flag above Belfast City Hall.
Previously, it had flown all year round, but nationalists at Belfast City Council agreed to back an Alliance Party motion to bring the flying of the flag in line with the rest of the UK.
It will now only fly on designated days such as the Queen’s Birthday and Remembrance Sunday.
Since the protests began, several politicians across the party spectrum have received death threats and suffered attacks on their constituency offices.
The PSNI are also investigating the attempted murder of a police officer, who was sitting in a car when a gang of men smashed windows and threw a lit petrol bomb inside.
(IT)
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Protests over the flying of the union flag at Belfast City Hall have continued to cause disruption to traffic, as roads were blocked in Belfast and Carrickfergus last night. The main Belfast Road in Carrickfergus, County Antrim, was blocked for a short time as over 100 people took part in a peaceful demonstration.
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