Supreme Court says PSNI should have stopped Belfast flag protests

The Supreme Court has ruled that the PSNI should have stopped the flag protests in Belfast from taking place.

There were widespread protests across Belfast in 2012 after Belfast City Council voted to no longer fly the Union Jack every day of the year.

A High Court judge said in 2014 that police should not have allowed the parades to have taken place.

However, the ruling was overturned on appeal.

The case was taken against the PSNI by a Belfast resident who cannot be identified for their own safety.

The Supreme Court, the UK's highest court, today said that 'the PSNI misconstrued their legal powers to stop parades'.

Parades in Northern Ireland must be registered through the Parades Commission, any that do not go through the Commission are considered illegal.

The Supreme Court said: "The police failed to recognise that the integrity of that system depended on the enforcement of the requirement to notify an intention to hold a parade. "It is the police, not the Parades Commission, who have the responsibility for preventing un-notified parades from taking place."