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/ 15 September 2005
One of the Protestant paramilitary groups implicated in three nights of rioting in Belfast called on Tuesday for an end to the violence, the worst Northern Ireland has seen in years. Sixty police officers and at least 10 civilians have been hurt in the clashes, which erupted over a ban on a Protestant parade through Roman Catholic areas of Belfast.
The Irish Republican Army (IRA) on Thursday ordered all its militants to end their armed campaign and adopt exclusively peaceful means to end British rule in Northern Ireland, the paramilitary group said in a historic statement. British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the statement as a "step of unparalleled magnitude".