POLICE said they were fired upon during last night’s riots involving dissident republicans in Ardoyne, north Belfast.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said officers were attacked by rioters at a sectarian interface as a controversial Orange parade returned from the main Belfast demonstration.
They said two officers were injured in Ardoyne, and were being treated in hospital last night. They said one shot was fired at them, while they fired a total of 14 plastic baton rounds.
A further three police officers were injured when they came under attack from youths who hurled stones, masonry and six petrol bombs at them in Rasharkin, Co Antrim.
At Ardoyne, bricks, stones and bottles were intermittently thrown at police lines located at shops along the contested route.
Some minutes after the controversial Orange Order feeder parade passed by the shops, a policeman was heard to issue a warning that a gunman was seen in the area.
Shortly after 6.45pm, there were loud orders from police commanders for officers to move back about 10 metres from the attackers. Some officers took up firing positions as if expecting to come under serious attack, or perhaps live rounds.
Earlier yesterday, a rifle was found by children in Ardoyne, according to police. Sinn Féin junior minister Gerry Kelly said: “I assume it was going to be used. The last time that anybody used a rifle or any weapon in a riot was in the early 1970s because the reaction is that people will end up dead.”
He said dissident groups such as the Real IRA had brought in people intentionally to cause trouble last night. He said these people were intent on “sectarianising” the situation.
The parade went past the Ardoyne shops at 7.50pm. Police water cannon were constantly fired at by rioters as the parade went by. A number of rocks were thrown, one of them striking an Orange banner. A number of blast-bombs were fired as well.
Early last night, there was no evidence of any senior Sinn Féin or other republican leaders in front of the shops. However, there were a number of known dissidents at the scene.
Local nationalists, joined by senior republicans such as Gerry Kelly and Bobby Storey, staged a protest against the Orange march close to the roundabout at Ardoyne shops.
Sporadic attacks on homes and properties also took place outside Belfast. Police officers came under further attack with missiles during a security operation in Armagh. They were dealing with a bomb which exploded in the Friary Road area of the city earlier.
In Derry, there were minor disturbances when groups of youths clashed following the first July Orange Order parade to he held in the city since 2005.
On Sunday night, a petrol bomb was thrown at an Orange hall at Main Street in Rasharkin, Co Antrim but it failed to ignite. A 38-year-old man has since been charged with attempted arson.