Riot police in Northern Ireland used water cannon and rubber bullets to clear demonstrators after bottles and stones rained down on Protestant marchers taking part in one of the annual Orange Order parades, leaving more than 60 injured.
Hundreds of Roman Catholic youths threw missiles at marchers parading through their district, a ritual which regularly brings violence during the so-called "marching season."
More than 60 people were injured, police said, as rioters hurled home-made explosive devices and petrol bombs, and officers responded with water cannon and non-lethal rubber bullets.
PHOTO: AP
Police in riot gear, backed by dogs, struggled to bring the violence under control and eventually charged the youths, witnesses said.
Two journalists were also hurt, one of whom suffered a broken leg, according to police.
Earlier in the day, police cleared a sit-in protest by Catholic demonstrators as the climax of the Orange Order parades began.
Hundreds of police lined up armored vehicles and erected giant metal screens along the road separating the two communities while the march went through the Ardoyne district of Belfast, a Catholic stronghold.
Protestants from the Orange Order hold marches across Northern Ireland every year to commemorate the victory of Protestant King William of Orange over James II's Catholics in Ireland in 1690.
About 1,000 Protestants took part in marches across Northern Ireland throughout the day.
Roman Catholics, who mostly favor the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic, say the marches are provocative and outdated.
Protestants, however, most of whom want the region to remain part of the UK, see the parades as an integral part of their heritage.
During the morning, about 60 protesters opposing the marches were removed one by one from Crumlin Road in Ardoyne during a 30-minute operation, police said.
Before the violence broke out, police appealed to leaders of the two sides to do what they could to keep the peace.
But Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Fein -- the main Catholic party in Northern Ireland and political wing of the paramilitary Irish Republican Army -- said he thought the protesters' anger was "justifiable."
"A lot of young people are very angry. What we are trying to do here is negotiate calm back into the situation," said Adams, who was himself soaked by the water cannon.
"There are only a dozen young people involved in stone throw-ing, so we are trying to get control of that situation ... There is justifiable anger, it needs to be talked down," he said.
Several incidents had also taken place overnight on Monday when bonfires were lit to mark the start of the celebrations for what is known as the Battle of the Boyne.
The residents of 30 houses in east Belfast were evacuated after one bonfire collapsed and ignited a gas pipe, which in turn set fire to a three-storey building.
In the northwest of the city, about six petrol bombs were hurled at Protestant houses behind a so-called "peace line" -- walls put up to separate the two communities -- without causing any injuries.
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