200 involved in Belfast disturbances

DISTURBANCES involving some 200 people last night led to the closure of a major road in Belfast, the PSNI said

DISTURBANCES involving some 200 people last night led to the closure of a major road in Belfast, the PSNI said. The Albertbridge Road, a major thoroughfare which runs from the city centre to residential parts of east Belfast, was reported closed to traffic by police after 9pm.

A PSNI spokesman said some 200 people in two groups were involved in a confrontation at the junction of Castlereagh Street and Mountpottinger. Some missiles were thrown and police vehicles were also targeted.

The area where the trouble started is close to an interface between the nationalist Short Strand enclave and surrounding streets which are strongly unionist.

There has been a spate of incidents in the area over the summer and a football team bus, used by Catholics, was targeted last week in what was regarded as a sectarian attack.