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Northern Ireland’s secretary has called for calm after unrest in a loyal part of Belfast.
Brandon Lewis described the riots as “completely unacceptable.”
Eight police officers were injured Friday night after being attacked on Sandy Row by a crowd of youths, mostly throwing bottles, bricks and fireworks.
Lewis said: “Violence is never the answer. There is no place for it in society.
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“It is undesirable, unjustified and I fully support PSNI’s call for calm.”
He added that his thoughts were with the eight wounded officers.
The problem came after four successive nights of rioting in the unionist Waterside area of Londonderry.
Disorder has erupted amid continuing tensions within the loyalty in Northern Ireland.
Loyalists and trade unionists are angered by post-Brexit trade deals that they say have created barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.
Tensions rose further this week following a controversial decision not to prosecute 24 Sinn Fein politicians for attending a large-scale Republican funeral during Covid-19 restrictions.
All the major unionist parties have demanded the resignation of PSNI police chief Simon Byrne, claiming that he has lost the trust of his community.
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