Belfast faces big cleanup after 2 nights of riots; 55 police officers hurt in clashes

Belfast faces big cleanup after 2 nights of riots

BELFAST, Northern Ireland — Authorities in Northern Ireland face a major cleanup following two nights of rioting that left 55 officers injured during a major Protestant holiday.

Commuters faced delays going to work Tuesday as several roads were closed because of burned-out cars and other debris on some thoroughfares.

Northern Ireland police say 55 officers were injured in two nights of disturbances; the worst injured reportedly was a woman officer who suffered head and neck injuries when she was hit in the head by a brick.

Police and politicians accused Irish Republican Army dissidents of orchestrating the violence following Monday’s province-wide marches by the Orange Order, a British Protestant brotherhood loathed by the province’s Irish Catholic minority.