Rioters react as the police uses a water cannon on the Springfield Road as protests continue in Belfast, Northern Ireland April 8, 2021. REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff
BELFAST (Reuters) - A crowd of young people attacked police with petrol bombs and stones in an Irish nationalist area of Belfast on Thursday before dispersing, a Reuters photographer said.
The attack in the Springfield Road area followed a night of rioting by nationalists and pro-British loyalists nearby in the Northern Ireland city on Wednesday that was condemned by the British and Irish governments and local political leaders.
On Thursday around 100 youths walked to a line of armoured police vehicles and a few dozen began to throw stones, the photographer said. The crowd dispersed after riot police advanced.
Representatives of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein tried to move young people away from a so-called "peace wall" that separates Springfield Road from the neighbouring Shankill Road area that was the focus of violence on Thursday.
A Sky News reporter posted footage on Twitter of police using a water cannon against the protesters.
(Reporting by Jason Cairnduff; Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Leslie Adler and Daniel Wallis)
