Orange and unionist leaders abdicate responsibility after fuelling tensions over parades rulings on Twelfth

A 16-YEAR-OLD was struck by a car and 25 police officers injured as rioting by unionists flared in north Belfast on Monday night following the annual Twelfth of July parades by the Orange Order celebrating the Battle of the Boyne.

North Belfast Sinn Féin MLA Gerry Kelly reported that the quick intervention of police and local people lifting the car off the young woman probably saved her life. Her condition was reported on Monday night as stable. A man arrested at the scene was being questioned by police.

Meanwhile, the Orange Order has been criticised for its lack of  stewarding of its parades after it said it would not control people in protest at decisions by the Parades Commission to place some restrictions on a tiny number of parades.

Some bands deliberately flouted the Parades Commission restrictions. 

A senior member of the Finaghy True Blues Band smirkingly 'explained' to the BBC on camera why they did it passing St Patrick's Church. Band members also did 'the bouncy' celebration immediately after passing the church, jumping up and down on the spot while holding their drums over their heads and chanting.

Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin said: “There was marshalling of the parades last year that did not occur last night – that is regrettable.”

The Orange Order was barred from walking along a stretch of the Crumlin Road that separates unionist and nationalist communities.

When police lines blocked the road at the Woodvale Avenue junction with the Crumlin Road, they were attacked by unionist youths wearing flags as masks and hurling bottles, masonry and iron bolts.

Water cannon were used by the PSNI to try to disperse the crowd of several hundred.

The Orange Order and unionist party leaders issued press statements late in the evening condemning the violence but were absent on the ground, unlike republican activists in nationalist areas who worked with community and youth groups to defuse tensions.

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Sinn Féin deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said he “unreservedly” condemned those who attacked a bus carrying Orange Order members through Greysteel in County Derry, a petrol-bomb attack on the Verbal Arts Centre in Derry City, and other incidents in Derry.