Officers were hit with blast bombs during five-day loyalist riots in Belfast.
Northern Ireland pro-British Orangemen have vowed to hold weekly protests until officials allow them to hold their embattled annual march in the anti-British republican Ardoyne district of the capital Belfast.
The city has been hit with damaging violence since July 12 when authorities imposed a ban on the Orange Order from marching through the area in order to stop the persisting clashes between loyalists and republicans recurring every year before and after the date.
July 12 marks the anniversary of the victory of Protestant King William III of Orange over the Catholic King James at the Battle of the Boyne over three hundred years ago and has been a trigger of violence in Belfast over the past decades.
The republicans consider the protestant loyalistsâ„¢ march in their neighborhood an act of provocation.
Thousands of Orangemen held a protest in Belfast on Saturday amid heavy security presence to call for the lifting of the ban on their annual July 12th march.
The protest on Woodvale Avenue in Belfast passed peacefully in contrast with the weekend clashes with the police that left scores of officers injured.
The five-day troubles also saw 78 people being arrested for rioting related to the parades dispute.
However, the loyalists pledged to return to the same spot every Saturday until the ban by the Parades Commission on their march on the Crumlin Road in Ardroyne area of Belfast is lifted.
AMR/HE
Republished with permission from: Press TV