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Four police officers injured during Belfast car chase

A car which was attacked with eggs and bottles on the Springfield Road by a group of youths on Saturday night.
A car which was attacked with eggs and bottles on the Springfield Road by a group of youths on Saturday night. A car which was attacked with eggs and bottles on the Springfield Road by a group of youths on Saturday night.

FOUR police officers were injured after a stolen car crashed into two police vehicles during a weekend of anti-social behaviour in west Belfast.

After making off on foot, the two occupants were arrested after reportedly being found hiding on the roof of the Falls Bus depot.

Two teenagers, aged 16 and 19, are due to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court on Monday charged with six counts of aggravated vehicle taking.

The 19-year-old male has also been charged with driving while disqualified and using a motor vehicle without insurance.

The car was first reported stolen in a creeper-style burglary in south Belfast at around 10pm on Friday night.

At around midnight on Friday, the car collided with a police vehicle in the Caffrey Avenue area before it made off along the Glen Road and Whiterock Road, where it struck a second police vehicle.

The car came to a halt in Whiterock Close and the two occupants were later arrested with the assistance of the police helicopter.

Four officers sustained injuries during the incident.

In a separate incident on Saturday night a woman in Twinbrook was also left badly shaken after four men hijacked her car in Glasvey Rise at around 10.50pm.

The woman, aged in her 30s, was sitting in the car when three men jumped into the back of the vehicle, before a fourth man opened the driver's door and forced her out.

The car, a blue coloured Honda Accord, was driven off and the woman was not injured but left shaken.

Earlier on Saturday evening a young family were left badly shaken after a bottle and eggs were thrown at their car shortly after leaving the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Beechmount Residents Collective said that the car was targeted as it drove along the Springfield Road.

It said: "A bottle was thrown at their car by a crowd of youths standing up beside Cupar street....a crowd of up to 30 started throwing eggs at the car and challenged the husband to a fight and brandished bottles."

On Saturday night, the home of a pensioner in Clondara Street, close to the City Cemetery, was also targeted in a burglary.

It is understood she was attending Mass at the time.

Police said a sum of money was taken during the break-in, which happened between 6.20pm and 7.30pm.

Anyone with information about the above incidents is asked to contact police on 101.