Police have recovered four suspected pipe bombs from a cemetery in Derry where an Easter Monday republican commemoration was staged.
The discovery comes hours before US president Joe Biden is due to land in Belfast on a trip to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
A senior Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) officer described the discovery as a “sinister and worrying development”, while officers searching the site on Tuesday were attacked with petrol bombs and other projectiles.
Derry’s City Cemetery in Creggan was closed to visitors for much of Tuesday after what appeared to be a pipe bomb was found at 6.30am. Police launched a search with the assistance of bomb disposal officers and uncovered three similar devices within the perimeter.
A PSNI spokesperson said: “These devices have been made safe and taken away for further forensic examination.
“All of these devices were located in the same area where clothes worn by participants in yesterday’s unnotified Easter parade were removed under the cover of umbrellas and burnt.”
They added that two vehicles were damaged as petrol bombs, stones and bottles were thrown at police. No officers were harmed.
The suspected bombs were found a day after republicans gathered in the cemetery to commemorate the Easter Rising of April 1916, a major event in the push for Irish Home Rule.
Prior to the event at the republican plot in the cemetery, there were scenes of violence in the Creggan area when a number of missiles, including petrol bombs, were hurled by young people at a police Land Rover monitoring the pre-commemoration parade.
Two robots, usually deployed to examine suspicious objects, were seen moving within the site. One small funeral was held at the cemetery during the closure.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the discovery of the pipe bombs was a “sinister and worrying development”.
He said: “Last week we warned that we had strong community intelligence there may be attempts to draw police into serious public disorder in Derry/Londonderry, and to use that as a platform to launch terrorist attacks on police.
“That intelligence played out yesterday and today in the form of disorder, involving young children throwing ready-made petrol bombs and other missiles at police. The discovery of these devices was a further sinister and worrying development.
“The actions of those responsible are reprehensible and show a complete disregard and utter contempt for the community.
“These suspected pipe bombs were left in a cemetery a place where people lay loved ones to rest and visit to pay their respects. That is absolutely shameful.”
PSNI’s Terrorism Investigation Unit will now lead on this investigation, he said, adding that anyone with information on the incident is asked to call police, or contact Crimestoppers to give anonymous information.
Mr Biden was set to arrive in Belfast late on Tuesday at a delicate political time in Northern Ireland as he helps mark the 25-year anniversary of the peace deal that largely ended 30 years of bloodshed there.
Before leaving the US, the president said the key aim of his trip was to “keep the peace” and emphasise the importance of the Good Friday Agreement and the recently agreed Windsor Framework, which changes Northern Ireland’s post-Brexit trading rules.
Today’s discovery shows “there is still some way to go” to end violence in Northern Ireland, said Stephen Farry, deputy leader of the Alliance Party, which does not align with unionism or nationalism.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s PM programme, Mr Farry said: “We have an ongoing problem with dissident republicans. They don’t represent many people. They are very marginal. I mean, Northern Ireland wants to move forward. These are the people trying to take us back.
“It does show that there is still some way to go in terms of building the complete peace and ending violence in Northern Ireland, notwithstanding the progress over the past 25 years.”
