(Aidan Crean, Irelandclick.com)

There were minor skirmishes in north Belfast on Saturday night as Orangemen returned from the city's main 12 July parade.

Nationalists and loyalists threw bottles and other missiles across PSNI and British army lines separating them in the Ardoyne area.

The trouble lasted only a few minutes and no one was seriously hurt. advertisement

The Sinn Féin Assembly Member, Gerry Kelly, admitted that both sides were to blame, but he claimed the trouble began with stone-throwing and sectarian taunts from the loyalist side.

US Congressman Donald Payne (D) NJ, who was in Belfast to witness the parade, expressed dismay at the decision to allow the parade to go through Ardoyne. "The cost of the security operation to force this march through Ardoyne could be better spent on the various cross community groups who are working to bring the divided communities together," Mr. Payne said.

"It was apparent to me witnessing the march that the peaple who follow these marches are intent on provoking the local community. If the Orange Order cannot control the people who attend these marches, then the Parades

Commission should reject any application to march through contentious areas," the New Jersey congressman said.

This article appeared first on the Irelandclick.com web site on July 12, 2003.