SIX PEOPLE were arrested during sporadic rioting following Saturday’s Apprentice Boys parade in Derry.
During the parade 20 people were arrested by the police for public order offences including provocation.
Among those arrested was one of the 200 marshals appointed by the Apprentice Boys to supervise the parade.
Six hundred police officers were on duty in Derry for the parade, which marked the 320th anniversary of the ending of the siege of Derry.
About 10,000 Apprentice Boys accompanied by 130 bands took part in the three-hour long event through the city centre. Most businesses along the route remained closed for the day and police officers erected crowd control barriers and security screens at locations which had been the scenes of sectarian clashes in the past.
The Relief of Derry celebrations were slightly delayed when a suspicious object was found on the city’s historic walls close to the Apprentice Boys memorial hall.
British army technical officers carried out a controlled explosion on the hoax device, after which the events to commemorate the ending of the 105-day siege started.
The PSNI’s operational commander on the ground, acting Chief Insp Jon Burrows, said he was pleased with the outcome of the day. “We adopted a robust and pro-active policy in terms of our approach to policing this parade and it has worked well. Those people arrested for public order offences will be brought before the courts.
“The vast majority of people here today behaved themselves and a lot of the credit for that must go to the parade organisers. I can confirm that among those arrested was a bandsman and a marshal,” he said.
Meanwhile, Michael Doherty of the Peace and Reconciliation Centre who observed the parade along with officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and from the Northern Ireland Office, said he was delighted with the outcome of the parade.
“Let’s put things into context, 20 people arrested out of an estimated 12,000 on the streets, that’s not a bad return by any standards,” said Mr Doherty.
“ It shows the importance of dialogue and it shows the importance of people from different backgrounds and organisations keeping in touch with one another,” he said.
“A lot of work has gone on in the background prior to today and the outcome is absolutely fantastic,” said Mr Doherty.
During the parade about 100 members of the 32 County Sovereignty Committee held an hour-long protest on Lecky Road in the Bogside area of Derry close to Free Derry Corner and within a quarter of a mile of the loyal order commemoration march.
A spokesman for the committee, Martin O’Neill, said their anti-internment rally was not timed to coincide with the parade or aimed at heightening community tensions.
Several hours after the parade ended there were minor disturbances at Butcher’s Gate, Fahan Street and Magazine Street on the fringe of Derry’s Bogside during which stones and several petrol bombs were thrown at police officers.
Two officers sustained minor injuries.