New Lodge: Hundreds attend north Belfast protest

Image caption, The protest was held in the New Lodge area on Monday night

Hundreds of people have attended a protest in the New Lodge area of north Belfast.

They were protesting against anti-social behaviour and disorder around an "anti-internment" bonfire last week.

Monday night's meeting was arranged by Sinn F茅in.

Some residents had to leave their homes for a time last week due to their proximity to the bonfire and community leaders said that must never happen again.

Kate Clarke, of New Lodge Safer Streets Committee, said: "These young people - and not all young people are the same - I mean the main protagonists in all this are the ones that we need to address and tell them that we don't want this.

"Not in our name in this community."

Two men were stabbed during disturbances in the area last week and a number of police officers were also injured.

Image caption, Hundreds of people attended the protest

Residents in nearby tower blocks were told to leave their homes as the Housing Executive could not "guarantee their safety" due to the proximity of the bonfire.

The bonfire was lit late on Thursday night after an attempt to dismantle it was abandoned.

Sinn F茅in's Gerry Kelly told the crowd that the community was being tortured by a small minority of "anti-socials".

He said they had built an unwanted bonfire against the will of the people and "we're not going to be accepting that".