STREET DISTURBANCES, hijacking and burnings continued in Co Armagh for a third consecutive night last night.
The trouble is being linked to the jailing of three local men last week in connection with a foiled dissident bomb plot.
The PSNI has responded to the trouble with a concerted crackdown on republican dissident activity. Under “Operation Dissent” roadblocks and patrols have been stepped up with a view to disrupting dissident efforts.
In a statement issued at the weekend, the PSNI said it would mount a high visibility response to what it called “the recent increase in dissident republican activity”.
Two weeks ago, police and army on both sides of the Border foiled an attempted attack on PSNI patrols in which a 275 kg (600lb) device had been left along a road in south Armagh.
The police statement said: “In addition to countering what police believe is an increase in threat from dissident republicans, the operation is designed to also prevent and detect travelling criminals and also influence driver behaviour, particularly in rural areas where there have been a number of tragic fatal crashes in recent weeks,” the statement added. “Police apologise in advance for the inconvenience this operation will cause, but seek the public’s patience and support in what we believe is a necessary step to prevent those with murderous intent going about their business.”
Violence erupted in both Lurgan and Craigavon on Saturday evening.
In Lurgan, two men, one of them armed, stopped a woman driving a lorry at the railway crossing in Lake Street.
They said a device had been attached to her vehicle and told her to take it to the local police station. Nothing was found on the lorry by police. In nearby Craigavon a car was hijacked.
The Belfast-Dublin railway remains closed at the scene of the trouble and rail passengers are being transferred by coach.
In other incidents there were two further attacks on Orange halls in Co Antrim. The violence sets the tone for the first week in the chief constable’s chair of Matt Baggott. He arrives at PSNI headquarters tomorrow to succeed Sir Hugh Orde who left the service to head the Association of Chief Police Officers in the UK.