'Bottles and Fireworks Thrown' as Police Attend Bonfire Disturbance in North Belfast

Belfast police were confronted by republican protesters at the site of an “anti-internment” bonfire in the New Lodge area on Thursday, August 8.

Officers in riot gear surrounded the bonfire after two youths climbed to the top of it and refused to come down.

Irish News journalist, Brendan Hughes, filmed this video and said that fireworks and bottles had been thrown at police.

The Belfast Telegraph reports that the bonfire is due to be lit on Thursday evening to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment in 1971, when suspected members of the Provisional IRA were imprisoned without trial or due process.

A statement from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said police were supporting contractors who had been “tasked the landowner to remove a bonfire from a road.”

The Belfast Telegraph reports that the land is owned by the Northern Ireland’s Department for Infrastructure.

Irish News reported that Sinn Fein politician Caral Ni Chuilin called for the removal of the bonfire while SDLP councillor, Paul McCusker, said residents of the New Lodge didn’t want it in their area.

The newspaper added that graffiti threatening a local Sinn Fein councillor and contractors had been daubed on walls in the area in recent days. Credit: Brendan Hughes via Storyful