Riots Northern Ireland

Britain is sending 800 soldiers to help deter mobs that were hijacking cars, attacking police and erecting flaming barricades in Belfast, the provincial capital, in response to a ban on a Protestant march through a Roman Catholic neighborhood in the town of Portadown. Several hundred would-be marchers remained camped in tents near Drumcree church in Portadown.

Rioting broke out in a Protestant enclave in northern Belfast, the Northern Irish provincial capital, for the second straight night, police said. A woman was shot in the leg and nine officers were injured as police met a barrage of gasoline bombs, firecrackers and bricks. The violence came after 33 police officers were injured in confrontations in the same area Wednesday, when about 600 Protestants rioted in the divided Ardoyne district.

Outraged Protestant mobs battled police, blocked roads with burning cars and lobbed gasoline bombs and rocks, ignoring a government panel's decision permitting an upcoming march through a hostile Roman Catholic neighborhood in Belfast. The turmoil came despite repeated appeals from leaders of the Orange Order for peaceful demonstrations against a ban imposed Sunday on a march through Portadown.

Roman Catholics and Protestants united briefly in prayer Friday over the death of a Protestant teenager, the lone fatality in a week of riots and sectarian clashes. Britain's secretary for Northern Ireland, John Reid, led an effort to defuse tensions in North Belfast's divided Ardoyne neighborhood. Last week, Protestants hurled insults, rocks and homemade grenades at Catholics walking to school through Ardoyne's Protestant section.

Protesters and police clashed for a second day Monday after Northern Ireland's Parades Commission banned a bitterly divisive Protestant march through a Catholic neighborhood for the third year running. The decision to ban the march set for Sunday down the Garvaghy Road was met with defiance by the Orange Order, the province's major Protestant group. "Everything goes ahead as planned," said Orange Order spokesman David Jones.

Roman Catholics and Protestants united briefly in prayer Friday over the death of a Protestant teenager, the lone fatality in a week of riots and sectarian clashes. Britain's secretary for Northern Ireland, John Reid, led an effort to defuse tensions in North Belfast's divided Ardoyne neighborhood. Last week, Protestants hurled insults, rocks and homemade grenades at Catholics walking to school through Ardoyne's Protestant section.

A four-day showdown between police and the Orange Order, Northern Ireland's main pro-British Protestant fraternal group, has triggered the worst violence in a decade in the British-ruled province. Britain is sending 1,000 more soldiers to boost its 17,500-member force in the region after the largely Protestant police force blocked Orangemen from marching through a Roman Catholic neighborhood in the town of Portadown on Sunday. Thousands of protesters have converged on a nearby village.

Protestant rioters, hurling grenades and firebombs, fought running battles with Northern Irish police in what the Royal Ulster Constabulary called the worst civil unrest in the British-ruled nation in years. Protestant gangs went on the rampage in Belfast after burying a fellow militant killed by his own grenade a week ago.

Masked gunmen shot to death a Catholic teen-ager near Belfast, Northern Ireland, then killed a Catholic truck driver trying to stop them with his beer truck. Overnight, there were reports of widespread rioting across the British-ruled province, with Catholics hurling firebombs and torching cars. Supporters of the outlawed Irish Republican Army detonated a powerful bomb about 100 yards from the site of the two murders, but no injuries were reported.

About 100,000 Protestants took to the streets of Northern Ireland on Friday to mark the 301st anniversary of a Protestant victory over Roman Catholics in the Battle of the Boyne. The marches followed a night of clashes across the British province. Twelve police officers were injured when Protestants rioted, hurling gasoline bombs, bottles and stones at security forces. Police fired plastic bullets to disperse crowds in Belfast where eight officers were injured by gasoline bombs, police said.

Roman Catholic and Protestant rioters bombarded police with rocks, bricks and gasoline bombs Thursday in street warfare that reflected the political difficulties facing Northern Ireland's 1998 peace accord. For the second straight night, heavily armored police backed by British soldiers kept rival mobs from attacking each other on the edge of Ardoyne, a hard-line Catholic enclave surrounded by militant Protestant neighborhoods. More than 20 officers were injured, police said.

Northern Ireland awoke after its first peaceful night in nearly two weeks, permitting the British and Irish leaders to get back to the business of securing a lasting peace. The troubled British province had experienced 10 successive nights of rioting in connection with the annual Protestant Orange Order's "marching season," which marks centuries-old battlefield victories over Roman Catholics. But there was no serious violence Wednesday night after the climax of the marching season.

Anti-Catholic extremists menaced the streets of Northern Ireland for a second night Tuesday, with masked youths in hard-line Protestant neighborhoods hijacking and setting vehicles on fire and police exchanging shots with gunmen in a Protestant area of Belfast, the provincial capital.

Protesters and police clashed for a second day Monday after Northern Ireland's Parades Commission banned a bitterly divisive Protestant march through a Catholic neighborhood for the third year running. The decision to ban the march set for Sunday down the Garvaghy Road was met with defiance by the Orange Order, the province's major Protestant group. "Everything goes ahead as planned," said Orange Order spokesman David Jones.

Catholic militants fought with police, torched trucks and tossed firebombs Saturday, protesting hard-line Protestant parades across Northern Ireland. Scuffles left dozens of officers and demonstrators injured in Belfast before culminating in protests in Londonderry, where Protestants celebrated the northern city's 1689 defense from a besieging Catholic army.

Eleven police officers were injured in overnight rioting in the Northern Ireland town of Portadown, a long-running flash point between Protestants and Roman Catholics, police said Sunday. BBC television said several members of the public were hurt, but no serious injuries were reported. Reuters photographer Paul McErlane said he saw about 100 masked, pro-British "loyalists" throw stones and other objects at security forces at the end of a traditional street parade.

The bishop presiding over a funeral for an assassinated Roman Catholic lawyer appealed for calm Thursday, saying revenge will only serve those determined to destroy the hopes of the vast majority for peace. Bishop Francis Gerard Brooks said retaliation would also be disrespectful to the memory of Rosemary Nelson, 40, a human rights lawyer "who strove by political and legal means to right a grievance." Thousands of mourners packed St.

Roman Catholic rioters burned at least eight vehicles and threw gasoline bombs at police Saturday after Protestants marched through a restricted route here. Riot police prevented a confrontation between the two groups in Northern Ireland's second-largest city and arrested three people--two Catholics and a Protestant--but reported no serious injuries.