Northern Ireland: Molotovs hit police ahead of Biden visit

Masked people attacked a police vehicle with Molotov cocktails and other objects at a parade opposing the Good Friday peace accord in the Northern Irish city of Londonderry on Monday.

The incident in the city also known as Derry comes a day before US President Joe Biden arrives in Belfast.

A Reuters photograph showed four young people in the mainly Irish nationalist area of Creggan throwing petrol bombs at an armored police vehicle, which was covered in flames on one side.

The crowd dispersed shortly afterwards, and police said nobody was injured.

"What we saw develop this afternoon in Creggan was incredibly disheartening," said Derry City & Strabane Area Chief Superintendent Commander Nigel Goddard. "This was a senseless and reckless attack on our officers who were in attendance in the area in order to comply with our legal duties," he added.

Nationalists tend to favor using the name Derry, while unionists are more likely to use Londonderry for Northern Ireland's second largest city. Legally, the city and county are called "Londonderry" while the local government district containing the city is called "Derry City and Strabane."

Anniversary of Good Friday Agreement

On Monday, Northern Ireland commemorated the 25th anniversary of the end of the Troubles — an ethno-nationalist conflict that lasted about 30 years until the Good Friday Agreement of April 10, 1998.

The anniversary of the accord fell on Easter Monday, which is a traditional day of protest for the Republican camp based on the Easter Rising of 1916, with which Republicans wanted to gain Ireland's independence from Great Britain.

The Troubles

Some 3,700 people were killed during three decades of sectarian strife between Catholics and Protestants.

Biden is due to arrive in Northern Ireland's capital on Tuesday and make an address at a Belfast University on Wednesday before traveling to Ireland for a further three days.

dh/jsi (dpa, Reuters, AFP)