POLICE were last night questioning a man after a bin was thrown at loyalist bandsmen, sparking a melee.
The 46-year-old was arrested on suspicion of crimes including assault and disorderly behaviour following an altercation on Agincourt Avenue in south Belfast yesterday morning.
The feeder parade was making its way through the mixed area after being banned from lower Ormeau Road.
A video posted on social media showed a man emerge from a house with an Irish tricolour flying from the firstfloor window as the parade was passing.
He threw a recycling bin at members of Bangor Protestant Boys Flute Band, some of whom responded by jumping the pedestrian gate as the man ran back into the house. Bandsmen appeared to try to enter the property, which is understood to house several flats.
One member set down his drum, picked up a wheelie bin and smashed it against the front window of the house, which belonged to a ground-floor flat unconnected to the man.
Police seized the wheelie bin and put it into the back of an armoured Land Rover. In a statement, Bangor Protestant Boys said the bandsmen initially thought an “explosive device” had been thrown at them and that “in the confusion following the attack on the band, regrettably an item smashed the window of the general property from which the aggressor came”. “Unbeknown to the band members, the property is split into different homes over several floors and regrettably the window smashed [belongs to] an entirely innocent victim of this situation.
“The band will pay for all damage to the innocent person’s window and express apologies to this individual.”
In other developments:
- “Minor damage” was caused to an apartment block in south Belfast after a large bonfire was set alight nearby.
- Police are “gathering evidence” following complaints about effigies and posters on several bonfires, including an image of Pope Francis.
- The fire service said callouts relating to more than 250 bonfires were down by more than 12 per cent this year.
- Thousands of Orangemen and band members marched at 18 main parades across the north. There were eight arrests across all events, plus a small number of potential breaches of Parades Commission determinations
PSNI Superintendent Darrin Jones said officers were aware of the footage and had arrested a 46-year-old man.
"Detectives are currently investigating other potential offences and persons," he said.
Parades in the Ormeau area of south Belfast remain tense decades after it was at the centre of violence and bitter disputes in the 1990s and noughties.
In 2013, the Orange Order said Ballynafeigh district was pelted with eggs and bottles at Agincourt Avenue.
The attack came during several nights of rioting across Belfast around that year's Twelfth demonstrations.
Ballynafeigh lodge has not been allowed to march down lower Ormeau for many years, due to strong opposition from residents.
The lodge had applied again this year to march down Ormeau Road, along Ormeau Avenue, towards Belfast City Hall.
However, the Parades Commission noted that "should the parade process the entirety of its notified route, there will be an adverse effect on community relations and a potential for public disorder".
The parade was again prohibited from processing along lower Ormeau to cross Ormeau Bridge at its junction with Annadale Embankment.
