Petrol bombs have been thrown at Northern Ireland police on the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Police chiefs had earlier warned of “strong intelligence” indicating terror attacks would be attempted on officers during a parade on Monday, the day before US president Joe Biden arrives in Belfast for a four-day visit to Ireland.
Despite police adopting a strategy not seen in years in order to boost the visible presence of officers, footage on social media showed masked teenagers throwing petrol bombs at a police van in the Creggan area of Derry on Easter Monday.
The clip showed numerous projectiles hitting the vehicle – including the front side window – in quick succession and bursting into flames, as fire licked the petrol-soaked ground beneath. The van eventually proceeded to drive away, with one of its rear tyres aflame and its bodywork dented and blackened.
Separate footage showed masked individuals setting up roadblocks, also doused in petrol and flames, with police warning drivers of “debris” at a roundabout in Eastway, just west of the city centre.
“Our officers have come under attack in Creggan with petrol bombs and other objects thrown at their vehicle while in attendance at an un-notified Easter parade,” said a Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) spokesperson. “No injuries have been reported at this time. We would appeal for calm.”
The parade, which travelled to the City Cemetery, was led by a number of people in paramilitary-style dress and the route was lined with IRA flags adorned with the words “Unfinished Revolution”, the Belfast Telegraph reported.
The march culminated at the republican plot in the cemetery, where speeches were heard, with one speaker describing the event as “respectful and dignified, paying homage to the revolutionary heroes of 1916 and all the republican dead”.
The city’s MP, Colum Eastwood of the SDLP, said the “senseless violence” is the last thing the people of Derry want to see, adding: “It was wrong 25 years ago and it is wrong now.
“The saddest part of this spectacle is that young people with no memory or experience of the violence of our past are being manipulated and abused by people with no vision for the future.
“Those whipping our kids into a frenzy and sending them out to attack the police have nothing to offer the people of Derry and this city will continue to reject them.”
Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie said: "Absolute wasters. Sent out to riot by men sitting in pubs acting the big lads”, while Alliance Party MLA Kellie Armstrong tweeted: “The actions of some who want to drag NI back to dark days is abhorrent.”
Police warned on Friday of potential of disorder at the event, with Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said the force has received “strong” intelligence that dissidents were planning to use the parade as cover to launch terror attacks against officers.
Most parades across Northern Ireland to mark the 1916 rebellion against British rule on Monday were lawful and passed without incident, but police were investigating the masked colour party which led a parade in Falls Road in west Belfast, with footage to be reviewed as part of a probe into potential terrorism offences.
The PSNI has asked for 330 officers from different parts of the UK to assist with the massive security operation taking place during Mr Biden’s visit this week, and had already activated Operation Inspire to boost the number of police boots on Northern Ireland’s streets – which chiefs said was “a reflection of the quite difficult and exceptional circumstances we find ourselves in”.
While police said there was no intelligence suggesting the Good Friday Agreement anniversary was a motivating factor in potential attacks by dissident republicans, a report on Sunday claimed a bomb plot to coincide with Mr Biden’s visit had been foiled in Derry.
“They were looking for parts to make a bomb,” an anonymous source told the Belfast Telegraph. “The belief is that the New IRA was planning some sort of attack to coincide with Biden’s visit, similar to the mortar attack on the cops in Strabane last November.”
A republican source told the paper that the group’s leader Thomas Mellon, had demanded a “spectacular” way to eclipse Mr Biden’s visit, “but with all the PSNI raids and Brit searches it’s likely he will have to settle for a riot on Easter Monday”.
MI5 and the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre raised the “terror threat level” in the North of Ireland from “substantial” to “severe” in March, following the shooting of Detective Chief Inspector John Caldwell the previous month.
