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Drone Footage Captures Bus in Flames Following Belfast Riot

Rioters in west Belfast’s Shankill Road area attacked a double-decker bus with petrol bombs on Wednesday, April 7, setting it ablaze.

This drone footage shot by local videographer Hugh Pollock shows smoke billowing from a double-decker bus as flames engulf it.

Police who responded to the scene with armoured vehicles also came under attack, video shows.

The disorder broke out when crowds gathered at the junction Lanark Way and the Shankill Road, police said, prompting the closure of “interface gates” that separate the Unionist-dominated Shankill area from the nationalist Falls Road area.

The riots follow days of violent protests in towns and cities across Northern Ireland that left numerous police officers injured, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster and Leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) responded to Scott on Twitter, describing the attack on him as “disgraceful.” In another tweet, Foster condemned the attack on the bus as “vandalism and attempted murder” and said the rioters did “not represent unionism or loyalism.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted about the incident on Wednesday, saying, “I am deeply concerned by the scenes of violence in Northern Ireland, especially attacks on PSNI who are protecting the public and businesses, attacks on a bus driver and the assault of a journalist. The way to resolve differences is through dialogue, not violence or criminality.” Credit: Highgrove Media via Storyful