Protestant leader slams NI rioters

As well as injuries to police, one loyalist protester was struck by a plastic bullet

BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- The leader of Northern Ireland's coalition government has condemned Protestant rioters after violence erupted when they were barred from marching past Catholic homes.

After visiting an injured police officer at his hospital bed Monday, First Minister David Trimble said leaders of the Orange Order should punish members who attacked police on Sunday.

Trimble, a Protestant supporter of the brotherhood that is staging several hundred parades this week, appealed for calm during upcoming marches.

Twenty-four officers were injured, largely by rocks thrown at close range during a half-hour melee, when they barred the Protestants from marching past Catholic homes in Portadown on Sunday.

Trimble told The Associated Press the rioters did "an enormous amount of damage to Orangeism and our hopes for a peaceful summer."

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"The injuries that have been inflicted on the police cannot be supported. And we hope very much there's no more incidents of this nature," said Trimble, who became leader of the Ulster Unionist Party in 1995 after championing the rights of Portadown Orangemen to parade freely in the bitterly divided town.

He said Orange Order leaders, who have been widely criticized in past years for tolerating rioters within their anti-Catholic organisation, must "look very carefully" at taking action against people who had "let the institution down."

Sunday's rioters involved a mixture of Orangemen and their supporters. Three Protestant men arrested at the riot scene appeared in court Monday and were ordered held without bail on charges of "riotous assembly".

The army is continuing to erect large steel barricades at Drumcree to try to prevent new violence after the weekend clashes.

CNN's Diana Muriel reports that the army is building much bigger barricades than the security barriers which had been rushed in to separate police and Orangemen protesters on Sunday. (Full story)

Heavy rain and bursts from water cannon finally drove the bulk of Protestant Orangemen troublemakers off Drumcree Hill on Sunday night where they had stoned police in a bid to break through the barriers.

Muriel reported "great scenes of confrontation" involving what the police called "hooligans and thugs out for a fight."

Police use water cannon to disperse the crowd on Sunday

There are concerns the barriers may again become a symbolic point of protest from Orangemen saying they have a right to march down what they call their traditional route along the mainly Catholic Garvaghy Road.

There are also fears that Sunday's clashes may ignite protests in other areas of Northern Ireland during the "marching season," which consists mainly of Protestant Orangemen seeking to hold symbolic marches, often through Catholic nationalist areas. (Full story)

Police had adopted a low-profile approach this year after previous years' protests had developed into battles.

But Drumcree became a flashpoint again after scores of youths broke through a steel barrier.

Crowds smashed and ripped up the barrier, forcing police and troops in full riot gear to surge forward to hold the line while army engineers hastily brought back a huge steel-and-concrete barrier used in past years and which had been kept in reserve nearby.

Orangemen stood on Drumcree Hill watching and cheering on the rioters, and some, their Orange sashes still around their necks, joined in wielding umbrellas.

A number of civilians were injured, at least one when he was struck by one of three plastic bullets fired by the security forces to quell the trouble.

Assistant Chief Constable Stephen White, who accepted a protest letter from the Orangemen, was spat upon as he did so.

"We were told it would be a dignified, law-abiding protest. We were prepared for violence and unfortunately that is what happened," White said. "Mindless, evil, violent thugs attacked police officers."

More than 2,000 police officers and troops had been placed on standby for Sunday's parade.

David Burrows, deputy district master of the Portadown Orange Lodge, described the trouble as "unfortunate."

"We have called for peaceful protest all along and we will continue to do so," he told the UK's Press Association.