SINN FÉIN president Gerry Adams will hold talks with loyalist leaders this week in an attempt to prevent rioting in the Catholic Ardoyne area of north Belfast later this month.
A loyalist Apprentice Boys parade is due to march past the area on August 14th. Last month an Orange Order Twelfth of July parade which marched along Crumlin Road past Ardoyne led to four days of rioting.
Police came under attack from missiles and explosives during some of the worst violence on the Twelfth for years.
Sinn Féin MLA for North Belfast Gerry Kelly is expected to take part in the talks with Mr Adams. They will meet leaders from the loyalist community including loyalist organisations – expected to include the Apprentice Boys – and Protestant churchmen.
A Sinn Féin spokesman said it was important to resolve the issue of loyalist parades marching past Ardoyne and other interface areas. He added that the details of the meeting, including the date and the location, had not yet been finalised. The PSNI published images of 13 people whom they want to interview following the rioting in Ardoyne last month.
A teenager was later charged with riotous assembly in relation to the Ardoyne disturbance.
He handed himself into Woodbourne police station yesterday after images were released of people wanted in connection with last month’s violence. The 19-year-old will appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court tomorrow.
Loyalist parades which pass the shops at Ardoyne have long been a flashpoint for violence, with the riots in July described as a “challenging time for policing” by the PSNI assistant chief constable Alistair Finlay.
Baton rounds were fired by the police officers at the scene who also took video and still camera images of the rioters. Some unionist politicians complained about the police’s policy of containing the violence and called for a more proactive approach.