VIOLENCE intensified in many parts of the North this morning with widespread rioting and paramilitary attacks on the security forces in the aftermath of the Garvaghy Road march.
Hundreds of youths armed with petrol bombs and bricks were involved in violent confrontations with the RUC and British army in Derry, and about 500 people were engaged in rioting on the Garvaghy Road.
A blast bomb was used in an attack on New Barnsley RUC station in Belfast at about 12.20 p.m. Shots were also fired at the station but there were no injuries. Shortly before midnight, gunmen opened fire at RUC officers in Armagh. They returned fire but there were no reports of injuries.
Earlier, the East Tyrone Brigade of the IRA admitted responsibility for a gun attack in which a police woman was injured in Coalisland Co Tyrone. She was discharged from hospital early this morning after being treated for head and face injuries sustained when a man ran out of a bar and opened fire with a shotgun as she sat in a car outside the RUC station.
Meanwhile, rioting continued this morning on Garvaghy Road. Those involved appeared organised and were wearing masks. They set fire to a disused car showroom and ripped wire grills from the front of the building to use as shields. Wire cutting equipment was brought in to cut through wire fencing.
As the petrol bombs landed on troops moved up from the small Protestant enclave they were protecting at the end of the road. . At one stage a petrol bomb was thrown at a petrol station but some of the rioters prevented what might have been a major explosion. Petrol bombs, which were brought to the scene in crates, were thrown at the RUC, who returned fire with plastic bullets.
In Derry, more than 500 plastic bullets were tired and numerous vehicles highjacked and set alight. Trucks equipped with screens were moved in to protect the city centre. Many people were injured and taken to hospital.
The rioting initially erupted in Waterloo Place shortly before midnight but intensified afterwards. RUC Land Rovers came under a barrage of petrol bombs from youths who had their faces hidden by balaclavas and scarves. A number of police vehicles were set alight.
Just before the rioting started the Sinn Fein's Mid-Ulster MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, walked through the area. He said the anger was palpable over the RUC's decision to the allow the Garvaghy Road march. Mr McGuinness maintained he was there to show his disapproval. "I don't want to see any kids getting killed by plastic bullets," he said.
In other incidents:
At least 10 masked IRA men, several armed, hijacked a train after it was stopped beside the nationalist Kilwilkie estate in Lurgan. They ordered the 30 passengers off and petrol-bombed the train, destroying it. Train services between Dublin and Belfast were disrupted because of the attack. Their resumption will be reviewed this morning.
Police in north Belfast came under a sustained burst of gunfire at 9.50 p.m. when 20 rounds were fired at a patrol from an automatic weapon on the Crumlin Road. There were no reports of any injuries.
Twelve high velocity shots were fired on the Springfield Road in west Belfast.
In Belfast, a masked gunman tired five shots in the direction of police manning a checkpoint on the Ormeau bridge.
There were also numerous hiiackings and arson attacks.