Tensions rise among UDA factions in north Belfast after ‘tussle’ in street
Additional police officers may be drafted into north Belfast over the weekend following an incident yesterday involving rival factions of the UDA.
PSNI officers were called to the York Road area before 1pm yesterday afternoon after receiving a report of a disturbance involving the man regarded as the UDA leader in the area and a friend of Andre Shoukri.
Loyalist sources in the area say words were exchanged between the two men outside the home of the mother of one of them before a brief physical confrontation took place.
“Something was said and then there was a response and then they squared up and a tussle developed,” one local source said.
Within minutes four police Land Rovers arrived into the area.
It’s understood that John Bunting, who is linked with the ‘inner council’ faction of the UDA, later made a complaint to police that he was assaulted and officers arrested a man for questioning.
In a statement yesterday, a PSNI spokesman said: “Police in north Belfast have arrested a 49-year-old man on suspicion of criminal damage, assault and making threats.”
