Loyalist extremes divide Northern Ireland

BELFAST - Hopes that loyalist violence in Belfast might soon subside were raised last night when the largest Protestant paramilitary group called for calm.

The Ulster Defence Association said it was instructing its members to avoid confrontation and "steer away from violence".

The statement was welcomed as the first sign the loyalist underworld might feel it had flexed its muscles sufficiently in the wake of Saturday's controversial Orange parade.

But security forces are still on full alert as the Government said the 11-year-old ceasefire of the other major loyalist grouping, the Ulster Volunteer Force, was "meaningless".

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain acknowledged the UVF had been responsible for most of the violence, and four murders in a feud with the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force.

David Ervine, the leader of the Progressive Unionist party, which represents the UVF, said the move was "tragic but hardly unexpected", adding it would mean there would be more ground to cover once the UVF was restored to the political process.

A click of the paramilitary fingers was all it took to bring the tattooed loyalist former prisoners scrambling out of the pubs and on to the streets, pausing only to manufacture a few crates of petrol bombs.

Being told to get stuck in was not an imposition for "the boys" - instead, it is viewed as a pleasurable duty.

One irony is that the orgy of careless destruction was mostly within loyalist areas, making already rundown districts more wretched.

The second is that the rioting is coming from within a community which cries out for law and order and opposes the rundown of Britain's military presence in the province.

Traffic was again held up in Belfast last night as protesters blocked roads, mostly in the west of the city.

Up to 60 police officers have been injured in Belfast, and more than 60 arrests made in rash of violence.

The UDA called on politicians to use their influence for calm, saying violence only damages the community.

Tory MP Nicholas Winterton said the disturbances had resulted from anger and frustration felt by people who seen "concession after concession made to Sinn Fein/IRA and the Republican movement."

- INDEPENDENT