Bus set alight near Belfast amid Brexit-fuelled tensions in Northern Ireland

Loyalists have set fire to a bus on an estate close to Belfast amid growing fears of tensions in Northern Ireland.

Four men boarded the double decker and ordered the passengers to get off.

The masked gang then torched the bus and left it to turn burn in the middle of the road in Newtownabbey, Country Antrim.

Footage of the fire, the latest in a spate of similar incidents, was shared widely online. It happened at around 7.45pm on Church Road near Rathcoole.

Last Monday a bus was hijacked and burned in a loyalist area of Newtownards, Co Down, in an apparent protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Disorder also broke out at a community interface in west Belfast twice last week.

The violence involving youths from the nationalist Springfield Road and loyalist Shankill Road saw police being attacked with missiles and fireworks on Wednesday and Friday night.

Unionists loathe the compromise arrangements agreed by Boris Johnson that ended the impasse on Brexit talks (Picture: PA)

The destroyed bus was left to block roads on a residential estate close to Belfast (Picture: PA)

Wednesday’s disorder followed a protest against the protocol.

The provision in the EU withdrawal agreement was designed to prevent a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland but is loathed by unionists. 

Checks on goods coming into Northern Ireland amount to a border in the Irish Sea, according to critics.

London and Brussels are in talks to renegotiate the arrangement, which was hailed as a breakthrough in Brexit talks when it was first drawn up but has since been criticised by all sides.

There is growing speculation Boris Johnson could trigger article 16, a measure under the protocol which would effectively suspend border checks on goods.

Commenting on the latest incident, Ms Mallon tweeted: ‘Our bus drivers are working class people who deserve to be safe in their jobs. What does this madness achieve?!’

The Northern Ireland protocol was hailed as a breakthrough at the time but the government is already to renegotiate it trade problems and anger in Northern Ireland (Picture: AP)

A PSNI spokesman said: ‘Police received a report of a hijacking incident in the Church Road area of Newtownabbey at around 7.45pm on Sunday evening.

‘It was reported that four men got onto the bus and ordered passengers off before the bus was then set alight.

‘Church Road is currently closed and diversions are in place and police would ask members of the public to avoid the area.’

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