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Fire Exchanged in Fresh Belfast Riots in Northern Ireland
Police exchanged fire with a gunman as fresh violence erupted in Belfast, northern Ireland, injuring 4, police said on Sunday.
Local media reports said policemen returned 4 shots when a burst of automatic gunfire from the loyalist Glenbryn Drive area was directed at police lines at midnight Saturday in the Ardoyne district, north Belfast.
Three police officers were injured, including one who received an eye injury while tending to a colleague who had been knocked unconscious by a brick.
A man has been treated for stab wounds to the chest during disturbances at Gunnell hill, but his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, police said.
A bus was hijacked by youths and set on fire on the Ardoyne road.
The violence flared following a police operation earlier on Saturday night, during which 30 primed petrol bombs and almost 200 bottles were seized in planned raids on both loyalist and nationalist areas of north Belfast.
Northern Ireland Secretary John Reid appealed to people living in the area not to be manipulated by elements plotting to wreck the peace process.
Reid's call came after violent clashes between rival loyalist and republican gangs on Friday night, which left a man hospitalized with bullet wounds to his face.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair and his Irish counterpart Bertie Ahern said on Friday that they have finalized their package of proposals aimed at breaking the deadlock in Northern Ireland's political process.
The two premiers had hoped to present their package on decommissioning, demilitarization, policing and the future stability of the political institutions to the pro-peace agreement parties this week.
Following the resignation of Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble as Northern Ireland first minister on July 1, there were six weeks available to the parties to find a resolution by August 12.
At the end of that period, if there has been no deal, the British Government will have to either suspend the assembly -- even if only for a short period to give more room for maneuver -- or call an assembly election.
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