47 officers have been hurt in sectarian clashes in Belfast, Ireland between Protestant and Catholic rioters during a march orchestrated by the Catholic side. Four of the officers were taken to hospital for serious injuries, 43 of them with minor injuries, local media reported. When police arrived on the scene some people within the crowd had masked their faces and police observed masonry being broken up by a number of individuals. The Irish police deployed a water cannon in an attempt to disperse protesters, after the officers were attacked with fireworks, petrol bombs. A 17-year old boy was arrested in suspicion for being responsible for the riots. In spite of a peace agreement signed in 1998 between Catholic republicans and pro-British Protestants, thousands who opposed the British authority against Northern Ireland were killed and injured during the last three decades.