The firing of 58 Attenuated Energy Projectiles (AEPs) by police during sustained rioting in Belfast in 2013 was justified and proportionate, the Police Ombudsman has found.
The rioting, which took place in the Woodvale area between July 12 and 15, and in the Lower Newtownards Road area on July 15, began after an Orange Order parade was banned from marching past Ardoyne shops.
Police fired a total of 56 AEPs and used water cannons during three nights of disorder in the Woodvale area. A further two rounds were fired on the evening of July 15 during rioting in the lower Newtownards Road area, where a water cannon was also deployed.
The Chief Constable referred the use of AEPs to the Police Ombudsman’s Office for independent investigation. The Office also received five public complaints about the use of AEPs at Woodvale on 12 July.
During their investigation, Police Ombudsman investigators obtained statements from all of the officers who had fired AEPs during the disorder. All relevant police documents, radio transmissions and CCTV footage was also obtained and reviewed.
Footage showed police line being attacked after parade was stopped.
The evidence showed that on the evening of 12 July 2013, police units formed a line to stop the parade on the Woodvale Road close to its junction with Woodvale Parade. The line consisted of a number of Land Rovers with police officers positioned between the vehicles and two water cannons behind them.
CCTV footage showed a large group of people waiting the arrival of the parade and a large group of protesters gathered on the other side of the police line at the Ardoyne shop fronts.
At approximately 7.40pm, the parade reached the police line and was prevented from proceeding any further. CCTV footage showed members of the crowd climbing onto police vehicles, and others throwing missiles and striking out at police.
Police responded by using water cannon, but within seven minutes the use of AEPs was authorised as officers were being injured and the water cannon were not proving to be an effective deterrent.
The violence continued into the early hours of the following morning. During this time police fired a total of 44 AEPs, while officers came under attack with masonry, petrol bombs, fireworks, and other missiles.
Officers were also attacked with flag poles, ceremonial swords and stolen police batons. Several police officers were injured and removed from the police line, and officers were also advised on police radio that improvised explosive devices might be used against them.
Some of the police officers who fired AEPs during the disorder reported having been concerned that the police line would be overwhelmed by the crowd. Another said he had been struck in the face by a large piece of masonry, causing permanent injuries which led to him being off work for five months.
A number also reported that they had been targeted with lasers when members of the crowd approached police lines to throw objects.
About two-thirds of AEPs recorded by police as having hit their targets.
Around two thirds of the A£Ps fired that evening were recorded by police as having struck their intended targets. Authority to use the weapon was rescinded at just after 1am, by which time the violence had subsided.
Five members of the public made complaints about the police use of AEPs during that evening. Three complaints were closed as unsubstantiated, and a fourth was not progressed as the complainant failed to engage with the Police Ombudsman’s Office after making the complaint.
The fifth complaint was made by a woman who had been hit accidentally by an AEP aimed a man throwing objects at police. The complaint was upheld but the Police Ombudsman found that the incident did not constitute misconduct as the officer involved had authorisation to use AEP.
Violence flared again in the same area shortly after 8pm the following evening, 13 July 2013, after police formed a line across the Woodvale Road between rival crowds.
In the following hours, masonry was broken up and thrown at officers, as well as spikes which had been broken off security fencing. Lasers were again used, two wheelie bins were set alight and pushed towards police, and police again received a warning about the potential use of improvised explosive devices.
In the space of an hour beginning just before midnight, police discharged 10 AEPs, five of which were recorded as having hit their intended targets.
Trouble in the Woodvale area continued for a third night.
A further two AEPs were discharged during violence in the area the following night, when petrol bombs, fireworks, masonry and other missies were directed at police. Police also recovered two wheelie bins full of masonry and material for making petrol bombs.
On the following evening, 15 July 2013, police were attacked in the Lower Newtownards Road in the east of the city. A crowd of around 20 people were reported to have thrown three petrol bombs and fireworks at police at around 7.15pm.
Within the next 10 minutes, four blast bombs were thrown at police and at St Matthew’s Chapel, and 20 petrol bombs were reported to have been thrown at police. Police were also attacked with iron bars, and at one stage an armed police unit was deployed to the area following reports that a man with a gun had been seen behind police lines.
Two AEPs were discharged during the disorder, which had ended by around 11.30pm when police withdrew authorisation for the use of water cannon and AEPs.
The Police Ombudsman, Dr Michael Maguire, concluded that the use of AEP and water cannon by police during each incident had been justified given the severe rioting they had been required to deal with.
He noted that CCTV footage, police radio transmissions and contemporaneous records corroborated officers’ accounts of having been subjected to sustained and violent attack.