Dozens of youths threw bricks and petrol bombs at police in Newtownabbey, a predominantly Protestant area 12 kilometers (8 miles) north of Belfast city centre. Seven people were cooled for a few years
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
, including a 13-year-old boy, police said.
They were protesting against a decision by Irish nationalist councillors from Sinn Fein and the SDLP to take down the flag which had flown above the quiet provincial capital's city hall every day since it opened in 1906.
The decision means the flag will be flown on only 17 days during the year, as is the case at the provincial assembly at Stormont in the British-controlled province.
Smaller protests took place across Northern Ireland on Friday during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as
America's Blond Eminenceand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Jeremiah S. Black...
. She said the violence showed the province's grinding of the peace processor was not yet complete.
At least 3,600 people were killed over three decades as Catholic nationalists seeking union with Ireland fought British security forces and mainly Protestant Loyalists determined to remain part of the United Kingdom.