Man arrested after assuault when four police officers injured along with one other man

Chief Inspector Brendan Green said: "We received a report of an assault in the Thomas Street area, shortly before 12.50am this morning, Saturday 27th April.

"Officers attended and located a man, aged in his 20s, with injuries to his head. It is believed he was hit with a glass bottle.

"The suspect, who was inside a property, had a number of weapons, and was pointing what was believed to be a gun at attending officers.

Specialist officers were deployed to mitigate any further impact to the local community, and at around 1.50am the man, aged 31, was arrested on suspicion of a number of offences, including making use of a firearm to resist arrest, possession of an offensive weapon with intent to commit an indictable offence, attempted wounding with intent, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Following enquiries, it has been determined that the gun was an imitation gun.

"During the arrest, the man assaulted four police officers; this included spitting, kicking, urinating and attempting to bite them. Thankfully they were able to remain on duty, and the man was further arrested on suspicion of four counts of assault on police. He remains in police custody at this time."

Chief Inspector Green continued: "Assaults on our officers, who are there to keep people safe and serve the community, will not be tolerated. While thankfully none of the officers received any serious injuries, this could have been a very different outcome.

"Our investigation into this incident is ongoing and we would encourage anyone with any information to call us on 101, quoting reference 56 of 27/04/24. You can also report online at https://www.psni.police.uk/report or via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or https://crimestoppers-uk.org/."