By Irish American Information Service

Loyalist paramilitaries are orchestrating most of the street violence at Belfast's sectarian flashpoints, police chiefs have said. As Northern Ireland`s new Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, reported to the Policing Board for the first time, members heard a security assessment of who was behind the bulk of the serious trouble.

Alan McQuillan, the Belfast police commander who accompanied Orde, said: "The significant majority of that has come from loyalist paramilitary groups."

Parts of east and north Belfast have been ravaged by serious disorder by rival factions living along tense peace lines. McQuillan had previously blamed both the IRA and UVF for orchestrating sectarian violence in east Belfast. Over the last three months, 94 people have been arrested for
rioting, police revealed.

In the east of the city, 38 people were listed: 29 loyalists and nine nationalists. In North Belfast, 56 people were arrested for similar offenses: 29 nationalists and 27 loyalists.

With tensions still running dangerously high at flashpoint areas, Orde faced calls on Sept. 4 for CCTV footage to be used in a bid to secure more convictions. But he told members that the 17 pages of guidelines which must be followed before files can be sent to the Director
of Public Prosecutions, meant it was a complex and difficult task.

Orde, who left his post as deputy assistant commissioner with London`s Met to succeed Sir Ronnie Flanagan in one of Europe`s toughest policing jobs, stressed he was in favor of video footage.

He showed Policing Board members CCTV stills of the Brixton bomber, David Copeland, which helped secure his conviction, to emphasize how valuable the tool could be.

But with legal issues to overcome, he added: "It`s a matter I have already raised with the Secretary of State and it`s an issue we have to look at."

Orde, who has vowed to capture the terror chiefs behind a spate of sectarian killings, told the board he was working with some of the world`s most experienced detectives. But their efforts were being hampered by a huge shortage of officers to investigate the killings.

"We have more lines of inquiry than we have officers to deal with them," he said. "To emphasize the crime rates," he added: "Pro rata murder
rates are a lot higher here than in London."

But it was Mr McQuillan`s assessment that provoked most reaction. Massive joint police and British army operations were being mounted every night to prevent more bombings and shootings in the city`s most volatile district, he claimed. McQuillan said that 18 months ago, when he was appointed assistant chief constable, there was no need for military
back-up apart from during the loyalist marching season.

But with police resources now stretched to the limit, he said: "Military brigades are now common on the street virtually every night." His assessment of greater loyalist activity was challenged by the Ulster Unionist board member Lord Kilclooney.

The UUP peer and former MP John Taylor claimed that Protestant families in East Belfast had been forced to flee their homes.

McQuillan accepted that republican paramilitaries have also been steeped in violence, including gun attacks on Protestants at the Short Strand interface earlier this summer. "I was dealing with violence as a whole," he said.

"The significant majority of serious violence, serious attack, in my view, has come from loyalist groupings. Much of that has been directed at the Catholic community and at my officers."

Sinn Féin has blamed loyalists for an overnight explosion at a petrol station in Portadown also on Sept. 3. The incident happened at Lavery's Garage on the Corcrain Road in Portadown shortly after midnight on that Tuesday. No one was injured in the incident.

A home-made device, electronically operated and packed with nails had been left in a holdall beside a diesel pump at the back of the garage.
 

"It definitely had all the hallmarks of a loyalist attack, said Sinn Féin councillor Brian McKeown. "The place where they actually put the device was at a diesel pump, they must have thought it was a petrol pump. If it had exploded there would have been massive disaster and I would say
people would have been killed."

The police said they still did not know who was responsible for the blast which caused minor damage. "We cannot attribute to any one side who this may have originated from or where this may have originated from,"
said Inspector David Hutchinson. "We are presently investigating that."

One theory being considered is that it may have been abandoned there in transit to another target.

McKeown also criticized what he said was a police delay of an hour and a half in cordoning off the area. The police said that although they arrived at the scene of the explosion within five minutes, the area could not be
cordoned off until more officers arrived. This, they said, was due to the current level of terrorist threat. 

Police believe the device was left after the garage owner had locked up his premises, sometime after 2300 GMT on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, there was been an explosion at the back of a house in north Belfast. Army technical experts were called to the house in Wyndham
Street shortly after midnight on Tuesday after the blast was heard. They checked the seat of the explosion and removed debris for examination. There were no reports of any injuries.

Police have appealed for anyone who saw suspicious activity
in the area to contact them.