Water cannons used as rioting flares again in Northern Ireland

Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths gathered on the nationalist Springfield Road, close to where Wednesday night’s riots took place.

The latest disorder came as prime minister Boris Johnson, Irish prime minister Micheal Martin and US president Joe Biden called for a calming of tensions.

Those involved were warned by police to “disperse immediately or the water cannon will be used”.

However, those present continued to fire missiles at police and after several warnings, the water cannon was deployed.

Later in the evening, there were reports that police warned crowds “impact rounds will be fired”.

Impact rounds, also known as AEPs or plastic bullets, are not used as a means of crowd control in any part of the UK apart from Northern Ireland, and their use has been condemned by human rights groups.

Six plastic bullets were fired by police during Wednesday night’s events.

Some of those present jeered before fleeing as the water jet came closer.

Justice minister Naomi Long issued a fresh call for calm after what she called “depressing and reckless” scenes.

She tweeted: “More attacks on police, this time from nationalist youths. Utterly reckless and depressing to see more violence at interface areas tonight.

“My heart goes out to those living in the area who are living with this fear and disturbance. This needs to stop now before lives are lost.”

Wednesday night’s violence saw clashes between both communities along the peace wall that separates the unionist Shankill Road from the nationalist Springfield Road.

But Thursday night’s unrest appeared to be confined to nationalists.

Groups of community activists were seen attempting to prevent access to the gate of the peace line where clashes took place the previous night.

A heavy police presence was in operation on Thursday night, with water cannon, police dogs and the riot squad in place in a bid to quell another night of unrest in the area.

PSNI officers were seen holding riot shields and being pelted with missiles before causing the youths to flee by charging at them with dogs.

Earlier Boris Johnson and Taoiseach Micheal Martin had spoken over the phone about the violent clashes in mainly loyalist areas over the last week.

In a statement, the Irish government said the two leaders stressed that violence was unacceptable.

“The way forward is through dialogue and working the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement,” the statement said.

“They agreed that the two governments would continue to stay in contact.”

The Biden administration in the US also appealed for calm in Northern Ireland and voiced its support for the Brexit protocol.

At a briefing on Thursday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said: “We are concerned by the violence in Northern Ireland and we join the British, Irish and Northern Irish leaders in their calls for calm.

“We remain steadfast supporters of a secure and prosperous Northern Ireland in which all communities have a voice and enjoy the gains of the hard-won peace.

“We welcome the provisions in both the EU-UK trade cooperation agreement and the Northern Ireland Protocol, which helped protect the gains of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement.”

Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis earlier welcomed a united message of condemnation of the violence by the Stormont parties.

He denied that the UK government had abandoned unionists through the new Brexit arrangements, one of the concerns inflaming tensions among loyalists that have sparked a week of violence, which police said had been on a scale not seen in recent years.

He said there could be no justification for the violence.

“I absolutely recognise the challenge and the sense of identity challenges that people in the unionist community have felt around the protocol and the practical outworkings of it,” he said.

“That’s why we took the actions we took just a couple of weeks ago to help businesses and consumers here in Northern Ireland.

“Obviously, I also appreciate people have talked about the decision last week by the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions), the situation with people coming out of Covid and as the PSNI has said today, pure criminal activity and encouraging young people to take up criminal activity.

“All of these things come together in a way which is completely unacceptable.”