NORTHERN IRELAND: VIOLENT CLASHES IN STREETS OF LONDONDERRY

(14 Jul 1996) Natural Sound

Chaos reigned in Northern Ireland's second-largest city of Londonderry on Saturday night, with Catholics and police involved in pitched street battles.

At least 2-thousand Catholics hurled rocks, bricks and petrol bombs at police overnight, while police retaliated with volleys of plastic bullets. Catholics used vans and cars to set up barricades in the streets of Londonderry before they began pelting police with petrol bombs.

The police and British Army used armoured vehicles for protection.

At one point, police came out from behind their lines to beat a man with their batons.

Police also retaliated with volleys of plastic bullets.

The Irish government was scathing in its criticism of the British response to Protestant rioting, straining relations between the two governments when they are jointly overseeing multi-party peace talks.

Leaders of the I-R-A-allied Sinn Fein party alleged that police had been far quicker to fire at rioting Catholics than they at Protestants.

More than 230 people - police and civilians - have been wounded since rioting began in Northern Ireland one week ago.

35-year-old Dermot McShane was run over by an army jeep early Saturday and died later at hospital in Londonderry, 70 miles (100 kilometres) northwest of Belfast.

Martin McGuinness, Londonderry's leading representative from the IRA-allied Sinn Fein party, earlier appealed for Catholics to stay calm.

But the appeal appears to have fallen on deaf ears.

Catholics also firebombed the post office sorting office in Londonderry.

Rioting has also continued in Belfast and a bomb set fire to the Killyhevlin Hotel near Enniskillen, 80 miles southwest of Belfast.

A caller warned of the bombing a half-hour before, and there were no serious injuries.

McGuinness has demanded that police stop firing plastic bullets, 4-inch-long cylinders that travel at 200 m.p.h.

But police and the British Army continued their onslaught in the face of more petrol bombs from rioting Catholics.

In the early hours of Sunday morning fireman battled to bring some of the fires under control.

But by daylight it was clear Londonderry would be smouldering for some time to come.

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