LONDONDERRY, Northern Ireland (Portal) – A line of masked people attacked a police vehicle with petrol bombs and other items at a parade against the Good Friday Peace Agreement in Londonderry, police said on Monday, a day before US President Joe Biden visited Belfast .
A Portal photo showed four young people in the mainly Irish nationalist area of Creggan hurling petrol bombs at an armored police vehicle, one side of which was ablaze.
The crowd dispersed shortly after, and police said no one was hurt.
“What we saw at Creggan this afternoon was incredibly disheartening,” said Nigel Goddard, Derry City & Strabane Region Chief Superintendent Commander. “This was a senseless and reckless attack on our officers who were present in the area to carry out our legal duties,” he added.
Members of the nationalist group ‘Dissident Republicans’ throw petrol bombs at a police car as nationalists hold a rally against the agreement on the 25th anniversary of the peace accord in Londonderry, Northern Ireland April 10, 2023. Portal/Clodagh Kilcoyne
He said police had deployed resources to gather evidence and received footage which is now being reviewed as part of an inquiry into possible crimes under the Terrorism Act 2000.
Monday marked the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, which largely ended three decades of sectarian bloodshed in Northern Ireland. There is still sporadic violence by small anti-peace groups.
British intelligence agency MI5 raised Northern Ireland’s threat level from domestic terrorism to severe late last month – meaning an attack is very likely.
It has mostly been in the second-highest category since its inception in 2010, and was raised after an off-duty police officer was seriously injured following a shootout by the new IRA, one of the small dissident militant groups.
Biden is due to arrive in Belfast on Tuesday and deliver an address at a university in Belfast on Wednesday before traveling to Ireland for a further three days.
Reporting by Clodagh Kilcoyne; additional reporting from Lavanya Ahire in Bengalaru; Writing from Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Adaptation by John Stonestreet and Barbara Lewis
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