There was further trouble last night after 700 people took to the streets of Belfast and bomb blasts rocked the city. Loyalist petrol bombers attacked security lines drawn on the Albertbridge Road in the east of the city. One policeman was injured.

Up to 100 masked men attacked police with petrol bombs on the Ardoyne Road. Near by, a blast bomb caused minor damage to New Barnsley Police Station. In the south of the city a car and van were hijacked and set alight.

Two men hijacked a bus full of passengers in Bangor, Co Down. The vehicle was driven from the Belfast Road to the Clandeboye Road where those on board were robbed before being ordered off and the vehicle set alight.

Sir Hugh Orde, the chief of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said yesterday that rioters had intended to kill his officers and that it was lucky “we have no dead”. A bomb factory was discovered and seven guns seized by police after violence on Saturday, which followed the re-routing of an Orange Order parade.

Sir Hugh said the order must bear substantial responsibility. “This violence was completely organised and the heroic actions of my officers prevented it escalating,” he said.

At least 50 shots were fired at police and soldiers on Saturday evening in west and north Belfast. The security forces returned live fire seven times. They discharged 450 baton rounds. About 1,000 police and 1,000 soldiers were deployed to deal with the violence.

The Ulster Volunteer Force is suspected of having been behind much of the violence. Last week Mr Hain delayed giving his verdict on an official report expected to confirm that the paramilitary group has breached its ceasefire.

A man injured by a blast bomb was in a critical condition in hospital last night.

“Attempted murder cannot in any way be justified,” Mr Hain said, before his meeting today with Sir Hugh.

“There can be no ambiguity or excuse for breaking the law. All those with influence in the community, including the Orange Order and unionist politicians, must condemn this violence and give their full support to the PSNI.”

The Orange Order described Sir Hugh’s remarks as “inflammatory” and accused his officers of acting in a “brutal” manner towards its members; but at a news conference in Belfast yesterday Sir Hugh said that he saw members of the Orange Order attacking PSNI officers.

“Petrol bombs don’t appear by accident, blast bombs do not appear by accident and certainly firearms have to be planned to be produced in the way they were produced,” he said.

The parade had “become illegal” and “fundamentally breached” the Parades Commission’s determination to re-route it away from a largely nationalist area on several counts, the chief constable said.

The Rev Ian Paisley, the Democratic Unionist, blamed the Parades Commission for sparking the violence and appealed for calm.

There was also serious rioting in Ballymena. Petrol bombs were thrown at the police and trouble spread to Ahoghill, where youths gathered, setting cars on fire, damaging houses and throwing fireworks at police. Cars were hijacked and roads were also blocked in Ballyclare, Glengormley, Rathcoole, Larne and Carrickfergus, as the violence spread.

Dermot Ahern, the Irish Foreign Minister, said that evidence that children as young as five were getting involved in violence did not augur well for the future.

“Children and teenagers are becoming brutalised,” he said. “A new generation is being blooded in sectarian hatred . . . [and] is being spawned by this type of incitement.”

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