Police disperse Fountain attackers

Police say they liaised with community representatives following reports of approximately a dozen youths gathering in the Nailor's Row area around 9pm on Monday night. A PSNI spokeswoman said the youths were moved on.

Residents of the besieged Protestant estate say bricks began raining in from Bishop Street between 7.30pm and 7.45pm.

Alex McClements - a former member of the now defunct Protestant Interface Network (PIN) which sought to quell disturbances in interface areas - says those involved in the latest disturbance were at least 16-years-old.

In recent weeks it has been claimed children as young as 12-years-old have been involved in attacks on the westbank's minority community.

Mr McClements - who lives beside the Bishop Street gate - said he was watching television when he heard missiles bouncing off the walls.

He went outside to try to prevent nationalist youths making forays into the estate; the security gate leading into the Fountain is not normally locked until 9pm.

He said he saw the CCTV monitoring system swivelling to film those involved in the attack but believes the youths are now oblivious to this as a deterrent. They are determined to lure the PSNI into confrontations by focusing attacks on the Fountain, he said.

"They have no fear of the CCTV," he told the paper. "Even if the elderly residents of Alexander House come out and give off to them they would attack them.

"It is sending a message out that 'we don't want you here.' Well, the Fountain has been here for a long time and it will still be here for a long time to come. I think they are using the attacks on the Fountain to get the police called out and then lure them down Nailor's Row to attack them."

Otherwise residents of the area reported a relatively quiet weekend in comparison to recent weeks. Despite this fears of further mindless summer disturbances persist.

"If that's what it is like now, I'd hate to see what it is going to be like during the summer," said Mr McClements.