The discharge of 22 AEP baton rounds by police during two nights of violence in the Broadway area of Belfast in July 2010 was lawful, justified and proportionate, an investigation by the Police Ombudsman’s Office has concluded.
Bricks, bottles, petrol bombs and gas canisters were among the items used to attack police who had been deployed to separate rival Loyalist and Nationalist crowds at the Broadway roundabout.
During their investigation of the use of AEP rounds, Police Ombudsman investigators examined all relevant police documentation and computer records, as well as radio transmissions and training records. The eight officers who had discharged the batons were interviewed, and house-to-house enquiries were made in the area.
Police initially responded to reports of serious disorder involving rival Loyalist and Nationalist crowds at 10.35m on 2 July 2010. Although the violence continued for several hours, no AEPs were discharged that evening.
Police units were sent to the area the following evening in a bid to prevent a repeat of the disorder. Rival crowds began to gather from around 8.30pm.
Police came under attack by a crowd of around 20 youths when they moved into the Bog Meadows area and recovered a stash of paint bombs and petrol bombs. They were also attacked on the Upper Donegall Road close to Rodney Parade where a larger crowd of around 100 people had gathered.
The nearby M1 motorway was closed due to the violence, and a Kentucky Fried Chicken store was broken into and looted. Catapults, fireworks, petrol bombs and ripped up street signs were used to attack police. A car was also set alight, and gas canisters placed in front of it before it was pushed at police.
When at one point Nationalists got onto the Broadway roundabout, police came under attack from members of a 200-300 strong crowd on the Loyalist side. Fireworks and a gas canister were thrown at officers.
There followed a period of relative calm, which led to authorisation for the use of AEPs to be withdrawn at 1.45am, by which stage 20 AEPs had been discharged, 15 of which were recorded as having struck their intended targets. Officers recorded that none of those which missed hit anyone else.
Violence flared again at 2.10am when a crowd of around 30 people attacked police at Lecale Street on the Loyalist side of the interface. Permission to use AEPs was reinstated and two further AEPs were discharged at 2.26am, both of which struck their targets.
By 2.35am the rioting had ceased and authorisation for the use of AEPs was withdrawn. A total of nine police officers were injured during the violence, although none of the injuries were life-threatening.
Training records for the eight officers who had discharged the rounds were examined, and showed that they had been properly trained in their use.
Two complaints were received from males who said they had been struck by AEPs despite not having been involved in rioting. One alleged that the round which struck him had been doctored as it left a “smiley face” bruise imprint. The injuries were examined by an expert in bruising, who could offer no definitive explanation of how the injury had been caused.
Police Ombudsman investigators conducted an unannounced visit to the relevant police armoury, but found no evidence to support the complainant’s allegation.
There was no independent evidence of how either complainant had sustained their injuries, and no CCTV footage of them being struck with AEPs.
Having reviewed the evidence, Police Ombudsman Dr Michael Maguire said it was clear that some of those involved in the rioting “were intent on killing or seriously injuring police officers.”
He concluded that the decision to carry, deploy and use AEPs “was lawful and in accordance with existing legislation, given the threat posed to police officers and members of the public” by the rioting.