Paterson Condemns East Belfast Riots

The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Owen Paterson has hit out at the overnight violence in east Belfast.

He spoke out after news that a press photographer - who works for a local news agency - was understood to be in a stable condition in the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast after he was shot overnight in the rioting. The victim was this morning named as NUJ member Niall Carson after he was shot in the leg while covering the sectarian riots on the Lower Newtownards Road.

It was again the scene of sustained violence as the large police presence came under attack from crowds of youths.

The trouble followed Monday's sectarian clashes, but this time, two water cannon vehicles were deployed after the roads were closed to motorists who were advised to avoid the area.

In total, 66 baton rounds were discharged by the PSNI and the Police Ombudsman is now investigating, as is standard when the non-lethal weapons are used.

At one stage there were reports that 700 people were involved in the riots on Tuesday night but police have since revised this and said it was around half that figure.

Owen Paterson said this afternoon: "In common with the vast majority of people in Northern Ireland I utterly condemn this localised violence in a part of East Belfast.

"I would urge representatives and community leaders, on both sides of the community, to do all they can to bring the violence to an end. This kind of public disorder only damages the communities themselves and is not reflective of Northern Ireland as a whole.

"I have been in regular contact with the Chief Constable and Justice Minister David Ford over the past two days and I pay tribute to the professionalism and skill of the police officers working so hard to protect the whole community under difficult circumstances.

"As the Prime Minister made clear in Belfast a fortnight ago, there are things we can do at Westminster - such as backing the police as we have with a further £200m; there are things we have to do together, like working to revive the NI economy; and there are things where the NI Executive has the lead - such as working to tackle the causes of division which fuel this violence," he said.

Also this afternoon, after a second night of sustained violence, NI Policing Board Chair Brian Rea said: "Board Members, alongside political representatives and community workers, strongly condemn the serious attacks against police officers on the streets of East Belfast during a second night of violence. Those involved in these sustained attacks have nothing to offer the community except terror and misery. It is also deeply worrying that guns are back on the streets.

"The Board received a detailed briefing from the Chief Constable yesterday on the police handling of the serious disturbances. The Chief Constable will provide a further briefing to the Board at a special meeting which has been organised for tomorrow morning," he said.

Fractured

The MP for the area, Naomi Long, told the BBC that a man who was struck with a brick on Tuesday night has suffered a fractured skull and her party colleagues, the East Belfast Alliance MLAs Chris Lyttle and Judith Cochrane have both now called for an immediate cessation to rioting at the Short Strand interface.

Chris Lyttle MLA said: "I would call on all those involved with this violence to consider the serious harm caused by their actions and stop immediately. This orchestrated rioting is unjustifiable and unrepresentative of the wishes of people in this area.

"I recognise there are fundamental social and economic challenges in this area that we must work to address but this destructive behaviour serves only to make that task all the more difficult."

Judith Cochrane MLA said: "It is completely wrong that local people, business owners and members of a free press should be living in fear and terror for their lives at the hands of a minority.

"I would urge all political representatives to work together with the community and emergency services in order to resolve this dangerous situation. It must stop before lives are lost."

In fact, the PSNI have said they are investigating the wounding of the press man in the gunshot incident and said they are treating the shooting as attempted murder.

This morning they said that a barrage of petrol bombs, missiles and fireworks were thrown at police lines for a second night, in what is being reported as the worst trouble in the area for a decade.

Assistant Chief Constable, Alistair Finlay said it would be a "very strange development" if people were targeting journalists and said it was "more likely" that someone was trying to target police.

"We'll have the opportunity throughout Wednesday to do the analysis in working to investigate what is the attempted murder of the journalist, or indeed whoever was the intended target," he said.

Meanwhile, a DUP MLA for East Belfast, Sammy Douglas has said that the rioting was very bad news for NI.

Commenting on the first night's trouble, he said: "During Monday people right across Northern Ireland were celebrating the amazing success of Rory McIlroy [in the US Open] and able to celebrate our Province being in the headlines right across the world for positive reasons.

"I am dejected however, having witnessed personally some of the worst rioting in East Belfast for many years coming so soon afterwards.

"People on both sides of the Short Strand/Newtownards Road interface have had their homes wrecked and people have been hospitalised as a result of their injuries. My thoughts and prayers are with all those who were affected by this trouble and I know that the majority of people on both sides do not want this to happen again.

"It is only down to good fortune that we are not dealing with the aftermath of a death in the area and the presence of gunmen on the streets is a very dark reminder of days which no-one wants to return.

"Our peace in Northern Ireland is fragile and many will feel that our hopes for an East Belfast at peace with itself have been put on hold by this violence.

"We will continue to work with everyone living in that community however to ensure that everyone's hopes for a better future can be realised," concluded the well know community representative, who comes originally from the UDA stronghold of Sandy Row, in south Belfast.

According to the PSNI both nights' violence was orchestrated by the other main loyalist paramilitary group, the UVF.

See: Journalists Condemn Gun Attack

(BMcC)