That was last night. They're still at it.Twenty-six police officers were injured in sectarian rioting between loyalist and republican gangs in north Belfast, and the violence was continuing into the night.
At one stage riot police in the lower Antrim Road/Carlisle Circus area had to simultaneously repel attacks from both sides. Petrol bombs, fireworks, golf balls and bottles were thrown at police lines, as the Police Service of Northern Ireland responded with water cannon. At least three officers were taken to hospital. There were also unconfirmed reports of baton rounds being fired.
The disorder erupted following a republican parade which passed Clinton Street Orange Hall on Sunday afternoon. The Republican Network for Unity, the anti-Sinn Féin group that organised the march, said the 300-strong parade came under attack from loyalists. Among the injured were women and children, RNU alleged.
The Orange Order claimed the trouble began after Clifton Street Orange Hall was attacked by republicans. The Order said the attack appeared to be "premeditated". A number of arrests have been made.
As well as missiles and molotov cocktails, the loyalists from the edge of the Lower Shankill estate drove burning wheelie bins against police lines. Police used water cannon to counter the threat from the blazing bins. It appeared that all the police casualties were due to loyalist violence in and around Denmark Street, the main entry point into the Lower Shankill estate.
The violent scenes were witnessed by terrified residents of an old people's home facing Carlisle Circus. Motorists were advised to avoid the Carlisle Circus/Antrim Road area last night.
A heavy security presence remained in the area overnight, with a police helicopter hovering overhead and dozens of heavily armed officers on the streets.
Tensions have been high in Belfast's north inner city since last weekend when seven police officers were injured trying to keep rival loyalist and republican factions apart. That trouble broke out after loyalist marching bands defied a legal ban on them playing sectarian songs outside St Patrick's chapel, one of Belfast's oldest Catholic churches. Nationalist residents, outraged over the bands' behaviour, got involved in scuffles with loyalist supporters. Since then the atmosphere in north Belfast has been poisonous, with both sides blaming each other.
The area around the church has become the latest battleground in the Ulster loyalist marching dispute.
Belfast Sinn Féin councillor Fra McCann said a Catholic home close the so-called peace line separating the republican Falls Road from the loyalist Shankill had been attacked with petrol bombs as the violence appeared to spread.
Even if the current violence subsides, there are fears of further trouble in north Belfast later this month. Thousands of Orangemen and loyalists are expected to march past St Patrick's on 29 September as they commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Ulster Covenant, the pledge by hundreds of thousands of unionists in 1912 to oppose Home Rule.
The latest sectarian disorder coincided with the 18th anniversary of the weekend the IRA declared a ceasefire 18 years ago.
This latest parading dispute demonstrates that despite ceasefires, the peace process and power sharing at Stormont, sectarian divisions, especially in working class areas of Belfast, remain entrenched.
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There has been further disorder in north Belfast with police again being attacked with petrol bombs.
A bus has also been hijacked and set alight by Ulster loyalists close to the scene where 47 police officers were injured during nearly ten hours of rioting on Sunday night.
Eyewitnesses say the Police Service of Northern Ireland have again been forced to deploy water cannon to quell the trouble close to the entrance of the Lower Shankill estate.
The violence followed a loyalist protest at tea time against the policing of their demonstration on Sunday. The loyalists were protesting against a republican band parade passing by a local Orange Hall.
Locals estimate that around 300 loyalists are taking part in rioting with a smaller number of republicans penned back by police lines nearby.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland has vowed to prosecute those behind the riots.
PSNI Chief Superintendent George Clark defended the force's handling of the disorder in the Carlisle Circus-Antrim Road area overnight on Sunday.
He said officers holding the line between rioting loyalists and republicans had shown "tremendous courage" in the face of the violence. At one stage up to 40 petrol bombs were thrown at police, he said, the majority from loyalist lines.
Clark said those responsible would be "held to account for their actions".
The PSNI said the initial violence was caused by loyalists demonstrating against a republican band parade passing by the Clifton Street Orange Hall on Sunday afternoon. Up to 350 loyalists rained petrol bombs, golf balls, bricks and stones on police lines close to the Lower Shankill estate. Riot squad officers fought running battles with republicans along the nearby Antrim Road.
The police used water cannons to try to quell the violence, which subsided at about 2am.
Clark said the violence against his officers was savage, but confirmed that the PSNI did not fire any baton rounds at the rioters.
Sinn Féin said on Sunday night that loyalists almost killed a family, including five children, after a Catholic home near the peace line in west Belfast was bombarded with petrol bombs.
Sinn Féin councillor Fra McCann said the attack could "only be described as attempted murder by those responsible".
The atmosphere in north Belfast has been tense since the previous weekend when loyalists defied a ban on their bands playing sectarian songs as they filed past St Patrick's church in Donegall Street.
There are fears of further trouble in the area at the end of this month when thousands of loyalists are scheduled to pass St Patrick's on 29 September. The parade is part of a day-long commemoration of the 1912 Ulster Covenant – the mass unionist opposition to home rule 100 years ago.
