Teenager critical but stable after Derry's `worst ever' riots

A TEENAGE boy was critically ill in Derry's Altnagelvin hospital last night as the RUC came under heavy criticism for its handling of Thursday night's disturbances in the city.

The trouble started when nationalist youths stoned police in Waterloo Street under the city walls, near the Bogside.

The British army was called in to support the police, and eventually pushed rioters back into the Bogside. Petrol bomb attacks on, the police continued throughout the night.

Supt Joseph McKeever said more than 900 petrol bombs were, thrown.

"We were subjected to a vicious onslaught and sustained volleys of petrol bombs and missiles. This was the worst rioting ever seen in the city. I believe the initial attack on police near the city centre was a carefully orchestrated ploy that was designed to lure police officers into a death trap".

Addressing a protest march yesterday at the scene of some of the most serious clashes, Mr Martin McGuinness of Sinn Fein held up a blood stained plastic bullet found near the scene and claimed that as many as 800 rounds had been fired. This was more than had been fired throughout Northern Ireland in the whole of the past week, he said.

Speaking at the same event an SDLP councillor, Mr Mark Durkan, said people had been assaulted by the RUC in Altnagelvin hospital early yesterday morning as they waited on injured friends and relatives.

The RUC later admitted that batons had been drawn at the hospital and that a police dog was used, but claimed they had come, under it tackfirst.

The father of the critically ill" teenager said his son had been hit by two plastic bullets, one in the chest and the second, at close range, in the temple. He was threatened with the loss of an eye and had other serious head injuries. A hospital spokeswoman said his condition was critical but stable.

Family members said he was hit after coming out of a disco where he had gone to collect his sister. They claimed he was walking away from the police when fired upon and said they were considering legal action against the force.

Another man at the hospital was described as "seriously ill" with a head wound.

More than 40 people were treated in Altnagelvin as a result of the violence and 12 were detained overnight. There were reports that others had attended hospitals in Donegal and Sligo to avoid arrest or questioning.

A nurse working at Altnagelvin said yesterday that she was tumbled to the ground as violence between rioters and police spilled into the accident and emergency room.

The nurse, who did not want to be named, said staff in the casualty department were treating more than 40 casualties when police officers, dressed in riot gear, charged past staff to confront relatives of some of the injured.

"I just kept moving from patient to patient. The next thing I was lying on the floor. Exactly what happened I don't know, but the police came charging into the casualty area where patients were being treated.

"People were screaming, police dogs were barking and the policemen had their full riot gear on and their batons were drawn. People were getting hit." An RUC spokesman said the incidents started when a hostile crowd confronted police officers. "The officers were providing security for injured colleagues receiving treatment in the casualty department. A number of officers were forced to draw their batons and with the assistance of a police dog, they dispersed a mob which had gathered in the waiting area near to the hospital entrance."

Among the victims' of the rioting were two tourists, Mr Luc Wagner and his girlfriend, Ms Jiovanna Mancia, from Metz, in northern France. A camper van containing all of their personal possessions was destroyed.

"We lost everything except the clothes we were wearing," said Mr Wagner.