Police shot at in N. Ireland flag riots

Police have come under gun attack for the first time in the month-long flag riots in Northern Ireland , during a loyalist protest in the third consecutive day of disorders in the capital Belfast.

While rioters were using missiles including petrol bombs to hit the police on Thursday and Friday, armed rioters among some 100 loyalists fired at police lines along the Newtownards Road in east Belfast on Saturday.

Police confirmed the gunshots were directed at officers and said two men have been arrested as part of the investigation into allegations of attempted murder.

“This is a very sinister development and quite clearly the police came under fire this afternoon from a gunman,” said Terry Spence, chairman of the Police Federation.

“I think what it clearly does demonstrate is that there has been paramilitary involvement in these attacks on police and it has been orchestrated, in the case of east Belfast, by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF).”

An earlier round of the so-called flag riots on Friday left 10 police officers injured.

Moreover, riots a day earlier injured another eight police officers, including one who was hospitalized.

The pro-British loyalists’ riots started on December 3, 2012 after nationalist councilors endorsed the motion to take down the British flag from the building of Belfast City Hall on all but 17 days of the year.

The decision led to a wave of persisting violence by pro-British unionists who want no limitation on flying the Union Jack over the building.