Moment Belfast rioters hijack and firebomb bus to turn it into terrifying weapon in Northern Ireland
Updated: 8 Apr 2021, 14:40
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THIS is the moment Belfast rioters hijack and firebomb a bus to turn it into a terrifying weapon.
A hooded man was filmed hurling a lit petrol bomb in through the open bus door after the handbrake was removed and it rolled, flaming, down the street.
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A man walks past a hijacked bus burning on the Shankill RoadCredit: Reuters
Cheers rang out as the bottle exploded inside the bus, with the fireball moving down the road surrounded by rioters.
Windows were smashed in as flames spread throughout the inside of the bus and it gathered speed.
55 police officers injured during week of disorder in Northern Ireland PSNI officers and Land Rovers on the nationalist side of the Springfield Road in Belfast after dispersing people from the area, following further unrest. Picture date: Wednesday April 7, 2021. David Young and James Ward, PA 08 April, 2021 08:51
PSNI officers stand behind a Land Rovers on the nationalist side of the Springfield Road in Belfast after dispersing people from the area, following further unrest. Picture date: Wednesday April 7, 2021.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said a total of 55 police officers have been injured across several nights of disorder in Northern Ireland.
He said several hundred people gathered on each side of the peace wall gate at Lanark Way in west Belfast from around 5pm yesterday, which escalated to “significant disorder where crowds from both sides of the gate were committing serious criminal offences, both a
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Source: AP Photo/Peter Morrison
Northern Ireland has seen a dramatic spike in sectarian violence over the last week culminating on Wednesday night with eight officers being injured and the burning of a local bus.
Belfast tonight. Why are the media are silent? ?? ?????pic.twitter.com/XZKofrvLv7 The Churchill Project (@WinstonCProject) April 7, 2021
Centered in the northern city of Belfast, Wednesday marks the sixth consecutive day of renewed conflict between the pro-UK, majority Protestant, Loyalists, and the pro-sovereignty, majority Catholic, Nationalists.
The violence is reportedly a result of heightened tensions over the consequences of Brexit and the government’s decision not to prosecute observers of a widely-attended June funeral for Bobby Storey, a senior nationalist figure and the former head of security for the Irish Republic Army (IRA).
Updated / Thursday, 8 Apr 2021
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A number of PSNI officers have been injured during the disturbances
Police in Northern Ireland have said the violence in west Belfast last night was of a scale not seen in recent years.
During a briefing this afternoon, Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts said children as young as 13 and 14 were encouraged by adults, who stood by clapping, to become involved in violent disorder.
He asked those people to stand back and take a good look at themselves and for anyone with influence to encourage young people to stay in their houses and to protect them.
Mr Roberts said police believe there was a level of pre-planning in last night s disorder, given the number of petrol bombs and other objects which were used.
Nightly outbreaks of street violence in Northern Ireland must stop before somebody is killed, Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said on Thursday, calling on political and community leaders to work together to ease tension.
Members of the public walk past the remains of a burnt out bus on the loyalist Shankill Road in Belfast, after it was set on fire during a night of violence.
Photo: AFP
The region s devolved government will hold an emergency meeting later on Thursday to be briefed on an escalation of rioting overnight with sectarian clashes, continued attacks on police and the setting alight of a hijacked bus.