A SINN FÉIN councillor has expressed “outrage” after a police officer was stabbed by a member of the public and his colleagues came under attack at the weekend in Lurgan, Co Armagh.
The PSNI team was responding to a call early on Sunday morning that a man had locked himself in a house with two young children in the nationalist Kilwilkie estate.
After the man opened the door to police, one officer was attacked with a knife, suffering slash wounds to the face and back of the head.
He was taken to Craigavon Area Hospital where he remained overnight before being discharged yesterday.
The two children, aged one and three, were not injured in the incident. A 41-year-old man was taken into custody following the incident.
Police officers at the scene subsequently came under attack from a number of local residents.
The area has been associated with support for dissident republicans.
A PSNI spokeswoman said six petrol bombs were thrown at officers, along with bottles, bricks and stones.
Local Sinn Féin councillor Maireád O’Dowd said the majority of nationalists in Lurgan supported the PSNI, and individuals who routinely attacked the police were a “very small minority of recreational rioters”.
She said it was unlikely they belonged to any dissident republican group but were “just thugs”.
“The people of Kilwilkie are outraged by this,” she continued.
“The police were coming to the aid of someone in distress. They came promptly, for which they should be praised, and instead the caller’s so-called neighbours attacked them. It’s totally unacceptable.”
Supt Jason Murphy said he had “nothing but praise” for the officers.
“They were responding to a call during a busy time and their priority was to ensure the safety of members of the public, in particular two young children, with no thought for their own safety,” he said. It was “more than disappointing” to see them come under attack, he added.