Lanark Way: No one wants disorder to escalate, says PSNI chief

Two boys, aged 12 and 15, were arrested during the disorder

Violence involving about 100 people in Lanark Way in west Belfast on Wednesday night has been condemned by the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

Two boys, aged 12 and 15, were arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour. They were later released on bail.

"No one wants to see this escalate and a return to images of the past" said Simon Byrne.

Mr Byrne was speaking at a meeting of the Northern Ireland Policing Board.

"I think we want to see this in terms of a small-scale isolated incident and support the community in trying to dial down the rhetoric of what we saw yesterday," he said.

A protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol had been planned in the area on Wednesday.

Police said less than a dozen people gathered for it.

Police said the disorder lasted for a couple of hours

Officers were deployed to Lanark Way shortly after 17:00 GMT.

Wheelie bins were burnt on the road and missiles were thrown at police officers and police vehicles.

There were no reports of any injuries to members of the public or police officers but a number of police vehicles were damaged after being attacked with masonry.

Police said order was restored by about 22:30 and an evidence gathering operation is under way.

Three police vehicles were damaged during the incident and are now "off the road", according to Ch Supt Jones.

Missiles and fireworks were thrown at police in north Belfast

Sinn Féin assembly member (MLA) Pat Sheehan urged unionist politicians to call for an "immediate end to these dangerous and provocative stunts at interfaces before someone is seriously hurt".

"Tonight's trouble is a direct consequence of the dangerous and irresponsible stunt organised by loyalists at the Lanark Way interface this evening... with the sole intention of heightening tensions and causing trouble," he added.

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MLA Mike Nesbitt said that if anyone had blocked Lanark Way as a protest of any kind it was "wrong, illegal and counter-productive".

SDLP west Belfast representative Paul Doherty said fireworks and missiles were launched on both sides of the interface on Lanark Way.

He told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that he went to the area to "try to talk people down" but "some listened, others were intent on creating carnage".

"These actions do nothing but cause misery to the long-suffering people who live at these interface areas," he said.

Earlier this week, a bus was set on fire after being hijacked by armed, masked men in Newtownards, County Down.

Politicians linked that attack to opposition to the protocol.

The protocol is the special Brexit deal which prevents a hard Irish border by keeping Northern Ireland inside the EU's single market for goods.

That also creates a new trade border between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK, something the EU accepts is causing difficulties for many businesses.

Unionist politicians say the arrangement undermines Northern Ireland's place in the UK.