Rioting raises ugly head in Belfast

For two nights last week, residents of Belfast had a bitter taste of the bad old days. Neighbourhoods were terrorised by the worst sectarian riots seen in the Northern Irish city in over a decade — a sad reminder of the decades of violence and bigotry that was a cancer on its streets. Police say that gangs of young men armed with sticks, stones, petrol bombs, bricks and firecrackers terrorised and intimidated residents by trying to attack the Catholic enclave of Short Strand in largely Protestant East Belfast. On the other side of the city, a bomb was thrown at a police vehicle. Thankfully, no one was injured in that incident. However, the rioting was not without its victims. At least three were shot in the legs, including a photographer for the Press Association. Another young man suffered a fractured skull. The vicious rioting was blamed by police on supporters of the Ulster Volunteer Force, a loyalist paramilitary group that was the last to renounce violence just two years ago. Since then, however, its supporters have become disillusioned at the slow pace of progress in political and social reforms. Make no mistake, their Neanderthal actions last week succeeded in setting progress back by years. From gulfnews.