An elite squad of specially-trained Bradford police officers were sent to Belfast on Saturday morning to help tackle extreme trouble on Northern Ireland’s streets.

Police sources say at least a dozen officers from Bradford and Airedale volunteered to join a total of some 100 drawn from across the West Yorkshire force.

All those chosen are already experts in riot and crowd control and know the dangerous – and sensitive – problems faced by police in Northern Ireland, West Yorkshire’s Assistant Chief Constable Mark Milsom said in an exclusive interview with the T&A.

“I can confirm we have deployed a Police Support Unit drawn from across the force. Those going have already received extra training as they were working in Northern Ireland during the recent G8 summit a month ago.

“Our officers are volunteers, experienced and well trained,” Asst Chief Con Milsom said.

Bradford police have proved their competence at home with the successful containment of the English Defence League during a violent city centre rally in 2010.

“It is a time of high tension and officers know what to do to support their colleagues in Northern Ireland,” he said.

Mr Milsom has personal knowledge of the policing issues in Northern Ireland having been deployed there himself.

“There is clearly a problem with some troublemakers, but I have been over there and know that Northern Ireland is full of genuinely peaceful, welcoming and law-abiding people who we are going to help,” he said.

The move to send mainland officers from different forces came after Northern Ireland’s Chief Constable Matt Baggott requested 30 units of police – some 600 officers – to give support during the Orangemen’s Day Marches.

But Steve Williams, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said the use of English and Welsh officers at the recent G8 should not set a precedent.

“This request raises the alarm on many fronts,” Mr Williams said. “Mutual aid deployment to the G8 Summit was a resounding success and was a milestone in the history of British policing and an intended one-off. But no discussions have taken place to set this as a precedent for an ongoing arrangement.”

On Saturday night, seven police officers were injured in a second successive night of loyalist rioting in Belfast.

Petrol bombs, bricks, bottles and other missiles were thrown at officers in the same Woodvale area in the north of the city that witnessed serious disorder on Friday, when 32 officers were injured.

Police responded by firing ten baton rounds and deploying water canon.