On 12 August, the Battle of the Bogside erupted in Derry: three days of fierce clashes in the Bogside district between the RUC and thousands of Catholic/nationalist residents. The besieged residents built barricades and set up first aid posts and workshops for making petrol bombs. Police fired CS gas at rioters for the first time in the history of the United Kingdom. In support of the Bogsiders, on 13 August Catholics/nationalists held protests elsewhere in Northern Ireland, some of which led to violence. The bloodiest clashes were in Belfast, where seven people were killed and hundreds wounded. Protesters clashed with both the police and with loyalists, who attacked Catholic districts. Scores of homes and businesses were burnt out, most of them owned by Catholics, and thousands of mostly Catholic families were driven from their homes. In some cases, police officers helped the loyalists and failed to protect Catholic areas. Both republican and loyalist paramilitaries were involved in the clashes. The events in Belfast are viewed by some as an attempted pogrom against the Catholic minority. There were also clashes between protesters and police in Armagh (where a protester was killed), Dungannon and Newry.