AN RUC Assistant Chief Constable, Mr Tom Craig, has confirmed that one of his officers struck the Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition spokesman, Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith, during serious disturbances in Portadown on Wednesday night.
Mr Craig, the most senior police officer in Portadown, said yesterday that the officer concerned had reported the incident and claimed he hit Mr Mac Cionnaith accidentally during the violence. An investigation has been opened into the incident. Mr Mac Cionnaith said last night he did not believe the assault was accidental.
"I have a report received, at the time over the radio, from a police officer who stated that when being attacked by a member of the crowd he swung his baton at the person attacking him and believed he caught Mr McKenna on the corner of the head and his glasses," said Mr Craig.
According to Mr Mac Cionnaith he was "smashed across the face" with a baton, breaking his glasses and leaving him with facial injuries when he attempted to calm the violence. An Independent nationalist councillor, Mr Joe Duffy, was also injured during the disturbances.
Last night violence again flared on Garvaghy Road when a bus was hijacked and set alight.
Violence broke out on Wednesday, the eve of Ms Rosemary Nelson's funeral, when police were called to the Garvaghy Road area at about 7.30 p.m. to quell clashes between nationalists and loyalists close to Corcrain Orange Hall.
According to the RUC, nationalists gathered at Ballyoran Hill began hurling petrol bombs and other missiles at police lines. Police fired plastic bullets in return.
The Garvaghy Road Residents' Coalition yesterday claimed that five residents were injured in the disturbances and a 15-year-old boy had been hit by a plastic bullet.
An RUC spokesman said 38 officers were injured during the disturbances with one taken to hospital suffering head and neck injuries after being hit with a paving slab.
Mr David Jones, spokesman for the Portadown Orangemen, said his group had gathered at their hall in the Corcrain area for a St Patrick's Day evening and were playing Lambeg drums when the "unprovoked" attacks by nationalists occurred.
He said he did not believe the disturbances were linked to the murder of Ms Nelson and denied that members had shouted slogans about her death.
However, the SDLP Assembly member for Upper Bann, Ms Brid Rodgers, yesterday said it was "obscene" that drums were played in the area by the Orangemen on the eve of Ms Nelson's funeral.
Mr Mac Cionnaith said the Orangemen's gathering on Wednesday was "unprecedented" and unlike any gathering held at the venue by the Orange Order at any time throughout the year.
"To have it on the evening before Rosemary Nelson was buried, and to have it in such a very offensive and obscene manner was actually trying to cause trouble by the Orange Order," he added.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident in the North, a man is recovering in hospital after being shot in the leg following an incident involving an off-duty member of the security forces.
An RUC spokesman said the incident happened at an off-licence in Abbott's Cross, Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, just before 9 p.m. on Wednesday. The off-duty officer confronted a group of six to eight youths outside the store following a theft.
It is understood the group assaulted the officer and damaged his car. According to the police spokesman the officer then drew his service revolver. "Two shots were discharged. One person was admitted to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the leg."
The Independent Commission for Police Complaints for Northern Ireland will oversee an investigation into the incident.