Belfast violence: a lack of police resources?

Belfast has experienced some of the worst rioting in years after hundreds of loyalists and republicans fought in the streets. Eleven shots were fired during hours of sectarian violence in east Belfast last night. Two men were treated for gunshot wounds.

All the indications are that the street battle was provoked by the UVF loyalist paramilitary group. Chief superintendent Alan McCrum said: "We are satisfied that at the very least members of east Belfast UVF were involved in organising the disorder."

He said that the police were initially "far outnumbered" but that "nobody could have anticipated that hundreds of people would be on the street and that petrol bombs, blast bombs, sticks and bottles would be thrown over four to five hours".

He added that two gun shots that hit a police Land Rover were "clearly an attempt to murder police officers".

Colm Heatley points out on Bloomberg that tensions traditionally run high at this time of year as Belfast approaches the marching season, which begins on July 12. The area where rioting took place last night is a particular flashpoint he notes, because, "east Belfast is predominantly Protestant while the Short Strand area is a Catholic enclave within the district".

But a Northern Irish blogger who lives in the area hit by violence puts at least part of the blame down to a lack of police resources. The blogger, who believes similar violence in 2009 may have exposed the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s lack of resources, writes on Politics NI: "Having seen the length of time it took for extra police to arrive last night and the reports on Twitter that police Land Rovers were seen coming from as far as Londonderry it's fair to say resources once again were limited." ·