Coverage of a protest march being against the annual Presbyterian General Assembly being held in the Presbyterian's Assmebly Buildings at FIsherwick Place in Belfast. The rival Free Presbyterian Church was led by Rev Ian Paisley and he was marching upon the Assembly with 1,000 followers to protest what he believed to be attempts to merge with the Roman Catholic church. While the chances of this ever happening seem remote, the protest took place nevertheless with undercurrents of protest about Northern Irish society in general, as can be seen by the placards the supporters are holding.
The cameras capture the march turning violent and four police officers were injured in widely publicised scenes. The fallout from the angry confrontation, which brought Belfast City Centre to a standstill, reverberated for a long time with Paisley ending up serving a three month jail sentence for his part in it and Prime Minister Terence O’Neill being forced to contemplate banning marches. Paisley would now be an implacable enemy of O’Neill for the remainder of his term in office.