Riots spark top level NI meeting

A British soldier on patrol in a mainly Protestant area of East Belfast

LONDON, England -- Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams met UK Prime Minister Tony Blair on Monday to discuss the latest outbreak of violence in east Belfast.

The violence comes as the summer marching season -- when Protestants celebrate centuries-old battlefield victories over Catholics -- approaches its climax.

The London meeting was convened after Belfast was hit by further violence on Sunday night in which a police officer suffered burns to his face when his vehicle was hit by a petrol bomb.

Shots were fired at police when they moved in to disperse a mob which was setting light to cars in the loyalist Donegall Pass area, near the centre of the city.

Two men were arrested for riotous and disorderly behaviour and police fired a baton round at a petrol bomber.

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Speaking after Monday's meeting with Blair, Adams denied republicans had orchestrated some of the violence.

He said they had helped calm the situation, and said conflict within unionism was the cause of the problems.

U.S. President W. George Bush's special envoy, Richard Haass, met Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid in London on Monday

in advance of his talks with party leaders in Belfast.

He renewed his call for Sinn Fein to join a new policing board, but also confirmed growing unease in the U.S. administration about the latest outbreaks of violence.

"Americans have been watching with growing concern what's happened on the ground in recent days and weeks and obviously we want to see this gradual build-up of violence reversed," Haass said.

Blair's official spokesman said Monday's meeting with Sinn Fein should be seen as part of a "continuum" of meetings.

The spokesman said: "Everybody recognises that at this time in the calendar of Northern Ireland it is historically a testing time of year, but last week's violence -- from both sides -- was totally unacceptable and the prime minister expects leaders on all sides to do what they can.

"The message from the prime minister will be consistent as it has been throughout -- that all paramilitarism has to come to an end."

Meanwhile, work has started to raise the height of a wall separating nationalist and loyalist areas in east Belfast's Short Strand.

It is expected to be several weeks before the task is completed by army engineers.

The wall is up to four metres high and is being increased by up to three-and-a-half metres more in a bid to prevent missiles such as blast bombs and petrol bombs being thrown over.

The marching season is the period between Easter Monday and the end of September when more than 3,500 parades are held throughout Northern Ireland.

Members of the Protestant Orange Order, who stage the vast majority of the parades, insist it is part of their cultural heritage to march in commemoration of key historical events.

Catholics argue that they should not have to endure the "triumphalist" parades, mostly celebrating Protestant victories over Catholics, through their neighbourhoods.

But the major flashpoints occur in July and August, around the two most notable dates on the marching calendar.