Two men appeared before Derry Magistrate's Court yesterday on charges arising out of separate Apprentice Boys marches in the city last year.
William John Young (27), of Moylena Grove, Antrim, pleaded guilty to striking a man he was trying to prevent from crossing a road during the parade last December. Young was a marshal on the parade. The magistrate, Mr Des Perry, adjourned the case for probation reports.
In a second case, a bandsman admitted rioting in Derry after last August's Apprentice Boys' march. David Semple (22), of Lecknagh Drive, Magherafelt, was jailed for four months and fined £200 for throwing missiles at police lines and towards the Bogside on August 10th, 1996. The sentence was suspended for two years. The magistrate said that Semple, who had drunk eight or nine pints of beer during the day, was welcome in the city as long as he was "sober and upright".