Deputy first minister attacks dissident republicans after disturbances at the climax of loyalist marching season
Northern Ireland's deputy first minister Martin McGuinness has branded republican youths involved in rioting in his native Derry this weekend as sectarian.
It was one of the strongest attacks McGuinness has made on dissident republicans and their supporters since the Real IRA and other anti-ceasefire groups have escalated their violent campaigns over the past two years.
Four men were arrested overnight in connection with the disturbances, during which cars were hijacked and in one incident a mother and daughter were pulled out of their vehicle.
Petrol bombs were thrown at police officers and vans by masked youths in the Bogside area, and at the Apprentice Boys' Memorial Hall HQ in Derry at the climax of the loyalist marching season.
Dissident republicans were also believed to be behind a pipe bomb attack at police lines close to Derry city centre on Saturday evening. No one was injured during the disturbances, which lasted for several hours.
The violence erupted after supporters of the Real IRA-linked 32 County Sovereignty Movement attempted to make their way into the city centre. At the time up to 15,000 members of the Apprentice Boys along with their supporters were marching in Derry.
McGuinness said on Sunday: 'What we witnessed last night in Derry was completely unacceptable. I challenge those who were behind this violence to come out and try and defend the incidents that occurred in our city.
'Let them stand over a mother and daughter being dragged from their car in Creggan and other people's livelihoods being destroyed with work vans being burned.
'The attacks on the Memorial Hall were motivated entirely by sectarianism and whoever carried them out should know that such behaviour goes against everything about Irish republicanism.'
He added: 'The vast majority of people in Derry want to get on with the job of moving this city forward. Those behind last night's violence seem to be wedded to an entirely different agenda.'
Dissident republicans had staged protests against the parade and were involved in scuffles with police as the march passed through the centre of the city.
The Apprentice Boys' celebrations marked the 322nd anniversary of the ending of the Siege of Derry in 1689 and has in the past been the focal point of violent republican counter-demonstrations.
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