Attacks spark calls for residents to help police

CALLS have been made for nationalist residents in the Galliagh area of Londonderry to co-operate with police in a bid to bring ongoing attacks on officers to an end.

DUP MP Gregory Campbell spoke out after PSNI officers came under attack from petrol bombs and other missiles for three consecutive nights in the area.

PSNI area commander Chief Inspector Gary Eaton said: “The disorder is disheartening and a poor reflection of the mindset of the few who are intent on causing havoc and injury. Fortunately no one has been hurt during the disturbances, which do not reflect the wishes of the majority of the community.

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“We will continue dialogue and partnership working with those who are interested in making their communities a safer and more peaceful place in which to live.

“Two men aged 18 and 43 have already been charged to court. I would appeal to anyone who knows the identity of any of those involved in the disturbances to contact police at Strand Road so that we can investigate fully and bring those who disrupt our lives to justice.”

Disorder in the Galliagh area first broke out on Thursday night when youths built a barricade in the middle of the road at Moss Park and set it on fire at about 10.30pm.

Mr Campbell said the trouble was caused owing to a “combination of anti-social behaviour and hardline republican activity”.

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The East Londonderry MP said in the Galliagh vicinity, “there appears to be a lot of opposition to the trouble from residents, Sinn Fein and the SDLP”.

He added that many residents were co-operating with police.

“The trouble appears to have involved a bonfire at one stage, an internment bonfire meant for August,” he said.

Meanwhile, also in the early hours of Saturday, fire crews attending the scene of a small rubbish fire in the area of the electricity substation in Galliagh Park came under attack from youths.

Northern Ireland Electricity has strongly condemned vandals who deliberately lit a fire in the grounds of an electricity substation in the Templepark area of Londonderry.

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The substation itself caught fire and left around 2,800 homes and businesses without power from 6.42pm on Friday.

The fire caused extensive damage to the substation resulting in a network clean-up operation costing many tens of thousands of pounds.

NIE emergency repair teams responded immediately to make the area safe and managed to restore power to around 2,500 customers within two hours.

Repair teams worked throughout the night to replace the substation and the underground electricity cables running into the substation.