POLICE IN THE North are appealing for witnesses to an incident in Fermanagh in the early hours of the morning, where emergency services received reports of a group gathering material and attempting to set it on fire on a road in Enniskillen.

The alarm was raised at around 4.25am that a number of people had gathered and were attempting to start a fire on the Cornagrade Road.

When police arrived at the scene, the group started to disperse but a piece of masonry and other missiles were thrown at officers.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene and extinguished a fire that had been lit on the road. 

Chief inspector David Nixon said: “Police subsequently arrested a 21-year old man on suspicion of a number of offences including riotous behaviour, obstructing police, arson and criminal damage and he remains in police custody this morning assisting us with our enquiries.

I want to appeal to anyone who was in the area at this time and saw what happened to contact us. This was completely reckless behaviour that not only tied up valuable resources, but has no place in our community.

The incident occured after police said the annual Twelfth of July events passed “without major incident” yesterday.

The emergency services also received fewer calls on the Eleventh Night compared to recent years, when loyalist bonfires are held throughout Northern Ireland.

In one case, the PSNI warned of possible confrontation with paramilitary group the UVF if Belfast City Council removed a bonfire beside the Avoniel Leisure Centre in east Belfast.