Loyalist paramilitaries orchestrating rioting in north Belfast have ordered community leaders not to interfere, the police claimed today.
After officers came under fire from up to 400 people in the third night of violence, assistant chief constable Mr Alan McQuillan said the Ulster Defence Association (UDA) was to blame.
"Moderate community leaders are being threatened by the UDA who are telling them to stay out of it . . . . The UDA want to get at their Catholic neighbours and we are stopping them," he said.
His claims came as North Belfast Democratic Unionist MP Mr Nigel Dodds prepared to meet Northern Ireland security minister Ms Jane Kennedy to discuss the violence.
Police said there were five shooting incidents in the flashpoint Limestone Road area last night during some of the worst rioting in a year.
Loyalists hurled 23 pipe and blast bombs and more than 30 petrol bombs at security forces, while a number of unexploded devices were taken away for forensic examination.
Police said 13 officers were injured, none seriously. No arrests were made. Riot squad officers fired 15 plastic baton rounds. There were no reports of any injuries from those.
The trouble began when a crowd of about 100 people attacked police with at least five pipe bombs and other missiles in Robina Street at about 8 p.m.
PA