Mob storms Belfast City Hall over UK flag vote

DUBLIN (AP) — A Protestant mob stormed into the grounds of Belfast City Hall and clashed with police Monday night after the council voted to remove the British flag from the building for most of the year.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said five of their officers and two security guards were injured during the hour-long melee outside city hall. The violence spilled into predominantly Protestant east Belfast, where passing Protestant crowds threw bricks and bottles at a Catholic church and hijacked a bus.