Seven police injured in Belfast sectarian scuffles

Seven Northern Irish police officers were injured Saturday when violence flared during a pro-British parade in central Belfast, police said.

Scuffles broke out after a loyalist marching band defied orders not to parade past a Catholic church in Belfast.

Authorities had banned the Young Conway Volunteers from marching past the church, after the band was filmed playing an allegedly sectarian song in the same place in July.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said seven officers were injured, including a policewoman who was treated in hospital for a head injury before being released.

The officers were reportedly hurt while trying to separate Protestant loyalists from Catholic protesters opposed to British rule in the province.

Around 3,500 people died in the three decades of sectarian violence between Northern Ireland's Catholics and Protestants that largely ended with a 1998 peace agreement, though sporadic unrest and bomb threats continue.

Northern Ireland's "marching season" from April to August, when Protestant loyalists parade in celebration of their heritage, is traditionally a time of heightened tension between the Protestant and Catholic communities.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/seven-police-injured-belfast-sectarian-scuffles-153043200.html

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