Police attacked again in 40th day of Northern Ireland flag riots

People walk pass a burning bus in Rathcoole, North Belfast, on January 11, 2013. / Getty Images

BELFAST, Northern Ireland Crowds of militant Protestants have attacked police and blocked roads across Belfast as protests over Belfast City Council's decision to lower the British flag reached their 40th day.

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The Troubles of Northern Ireland

Protesters, many of them bedecked in British flags and related emblems, blocked two dozen roads at rush hour Friday night. Thousands of workers fled the city early in expectation of what has become common since Catholic council members voted Dec. 3 to remove the British flag from city hall except for 18 official days annually.

Police say their officers have suffered barrages of firebombs, fireworks, bottles, rocks and bricks in the Belfast suburbs of Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus. They have responded with blasts from mobile water cannons and plastic bullets.

Northern Ireland's major freeway also has been closed because of a bomb alert.

• 9 police hurt, 18 arrests in N. Ireland
• Former IRA member admits role in killings

[quincytodd]

No matter how hard they try, they will never get the Catholics and the Protestants to like each other. It's just like the Sunni and Shiite Muslims in the Middle East. there is no end to it!

[maistir]

The population is changing: for ten years it has been apparent that the Unionists are aging and producing fewer children than the Nationalists, who are also younger. But the Alliance Party was the key voting bloc in the "flag" decision, my friends tell me. The police claim that the UVF paramilitary organization is promoting the violence.