THE RUC has confirmed it wants to interview Mr Gerry Kelly, the senior republican and elected Sinn Fein representative for north Belfast, following incidents during a protest against an Orange parade on Friday.
Mr Kelly had claimed that when he tried to speak with police as a public representative, he was dragged away, beaten and handcuffed and put into a LandRover.
An RUC statement issued yesterday on behalf of Supt Michael Brown said Mr Kelly had been arrested on suspicion of public order offences.
"He was handcuffed and placed in a police Land-Rover," the statement said. "At Mr Kelly's request, he had been allowed out of the Land-Rover to speak to police. He later managed to make off through the crowd."
Supt Brown confirmed Mr Kelly would be interviewed and a report prepared "for consider- at ion as to prosecution".
Scores of people were dragged off the Cliftonville Road by the RUC when they staged a sit-down protest against the Orange march being allowed through the Cat ho- lie area. It is not known if other prosecutions are being considered.
Tempers were still running high in north Belfast at the weekend over the nature of the huge police operation which sealed off Catholic districts, allowing residents neither access nor exit for several hours.
Crowds gathered at several points and shouted abuse at the Orange marchers across the security screens erected at the police cordons. After he removed the handcuffs, Mr Kelly went to the junction of Antrim Road and Atlantic Avenue, where, he addressed a crowd, urging it to hold a peaceful protest and not to throw stones.
However, disturbances broke out at other points and 10 police officers and three civilians were reported injured.
The Cliftonville/Antrim Road Concerned Residents' Association, in a statement yesterday, blamed police for the violence. It said its appeals for rerouting had been ignored and called for an independent public inquiry into Friday night's events.
There was speculation that the police decision to force the parade through meant that it would bar or re-route an Orange parade on the Ormeau Road in a week.
Meanwhile, the RUC denied claims by an east Belfast Sinn Fein representative that police in Land-Rovers had attacked residents of the Short Strand area late on Friday night. The Sinn Fein representative said locals were returning from a charity function in St Matthew's parochial hall at 1 a.m. when the incidents took place. Five people were arrested.