Residents furious over PSNI CS Spray assault

Nationalist residents of North Belfast have hit out at the PSNI after an incident in which a PSNI member indiscriminately sprayed seven people with CS Spray at 2am on Sunday morning 7 November.

The residents accused the PSNI of lying after the force released statements to the media saying the spray was used after up to 30 people, wielding baseball bats, isolated a PSNI member.

"There were only seven people on the street and what the PSNI said is totally untrue," An Phoblacht was told.

The incident arose after trouble broke out in Westland Gardens, when a loyalist gang came into the street to attack cars. Seven residents, four women and three men, confronted the gang, who then moved to the end of the street and gathered at its junction with Westland Road.

When the PSNI arrived on the scene, they drove past the loyalists and confronted the nationalists, with one PSNI man spraying the CS spray indiscriminately.

The residents say they will be contacting solicitors to make a complaint to the Police Ombudsman.

• Meanwhile, a gang of loyalists ambushed two cars containing nationalist families at the junction of the Upper Crumlin Road and the Ligoniel Road on Sunday 7 November. The loyalists banged on the doors of the cars, which they tried to open, to attack the occupants, some of whom were children.