Riots hit Ulster on eve of marches

POLICE used water cannon and baton guns when they clashed with Loyalist rioters marking the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne in Portadown, Northern Ireland. Officers were attacked with petrol bombs, fireworks and other missiles when violence broke out in the Edgarstown area of the town as thousands of Protestants across the province marked the Twelfth of July, traditionally the height of the marching season, with bonfires and street parades.

Bomb disposal officers were called out to disarm an explosive device found before it could be used against police. A Royal Ulster Constabulary spokesman described the riots as a "short but intense period of disorder".

Members of the Ulster Freedom Fighters wearing balaclavas staged a public display of force in West Belfast by firing automatic weapons and pistols into the air at midnight.

Surrounded by a cheering crowd of several hundred, five members of the organisation issued a warning to Catholics that there would be retaliation if ceasefire agreements were broken. The crowd roared its approval and chanted "UFF" and "No surrender".

Three gunmen from the rival Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) put on a similar armed display in the Shankill district.

Elsewhere, loyalists mustered at meeting points early today before beginning their marching displays accompanied by the beat of Lambeg drums.

The annual demonstrations will go ahead against a background of continuing deadlock in the political process to save the Good Friday agreement. A number of keynote speakers at sites around the province were preparing to launch bitter attacks on Ulster Unionist politicians involved in the talks which broke up at Weston Park in Staffordshire yesterday without any sign of a compromise over decommissioning, police reform and demilitarisation.

Members of the Ulster Unionist delegation left to return to Northern Ireland for the marches, which celebrate the victory of the Protestant King William over his Catholic rival King James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.

Talks delegate Jeffrey Donaldson was due to address Lagan Valley Orangemen at Derriaghy.

The Parades Commission - set up by the Government to rule on contentious marches such as the one at Drumcree - was strongly criticised on the various platforms. Orangemen, furious at the ban on some parades, have pledged to take the Commission to court for breaching the European Convention on Human Rights.

They will use the annual demonstrations to launch a Covenant for Human Rights as part of the campaign to restore their right to march. Orangemen in Londonderry were due to hand a letter to the Mayor in protest at the Commission's ban on the parade entering the nationalist Cityside.

They were also expected to stage a protest at Craigavon Bridge, which separates the loyalist Waterside from the West Bank of the city.

Another potential hotspot is the Ardoyne area of north Belfast, the focal point of angry clashes between loyalists and republicans last month.

Security was tight as an Orange "feeder" parade passed Ardoyne Road to join the start of the main parade close to the city centre.

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