Police attacked in Belfast clashes

Cars were rammed into police vehicles and set on fire

The security forces in north Belfast have come under sustained attack during the second night of rioting at a sectarian flashpoint in the city.

A crowd of loyalists in Glenbryn attacked the security forces with bricks, bottles, stones, fireworks and ballbearings.

In the most serious incident, six or seven shots were heard in the Ardoyne Road area.

It followed another day of loyalist protests outside a Catholic school in Ardoyne.

I think all the violence that has come from the loyalist district is clearly orchestrated

SDLP councillor Martin Morgan

Nationalist youths also attacked police vehicles on the Crumlin Road on Tuesday night.

A nail bomb and blast and petrol bombs were thrown at police during disturbances in the Ardoyne Road area.

An RUC spokeswoman said two officers sustained minor injuries.

Several large fireworks landed in the middle of a crowd of nationalists who were watching the rioting.

Nationalists also stoned the police and fired a large firework into the police lines.

The trouble began to calm down around midnight as police managed to surge forward and disperse the rioters.

An SDLP councillor in Ardoyne, Martin Morgan, has blamed loyalists for much of the unrest and claimed there was paramilitary involvement.

"I think all the violence that's come from the loyalist district is clearly orchestrated," he said. "It is organised."

He claimed people were being brought from outside the Glenbryn area to take part in such activities.

The trouble flared after the security forces escorted children to and from the Holy Cross Girls' Primary School on the Ardoyne Road on Tuesday.

Riot

However, apart from some verbal abuse, the trouble around the school on Tuesday afternoon did not reach the level seen in the area in the previous 24 hours.

Holy Cross Girls' Primary School is situated near the small Protestant Glenbryn enclave in the mainly nationalist Ardoyne area.

Scores of police in riot gear ensured the girls could leave the school through the front gates - taking them through the Protestant area.

But some parents chose to take an alternative route back home through the grounds of the nearby St Gabriel's Secondary School.

On Tuesday night, Northern Ireland Security Minister Jane Kennedy said the situation could not continue.

"Our priority must be those children, the safety of the children and the importance of creating an environment in which those children can go to school unmolested, without fear, without having to go through the kind of disgraceful scenes and level of abuse we've seen this week" she said.

Sir Ronnie: Condemned pipe bombers

The RUC chief constable, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, said despite a shortage of police resources, his officers would remain in the area "as long as it takes".

Sir Ronnie said an officer who sustained a broken collar bone after being struck by a pipe bomb near the school had a lucky escape.

However, he emphasised such attacks would not deter the RUC from doing their job.

"We will do whatever it takes to get these children safely to school," he said.

He told the BBC there was no justification in blocking the road adding that children should be able to walk to school in peace.

The school dispute is expected to be debated in the Northern Ireland Assembly next week, possibly Monday.

Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly has put down a motion calling for support for "the right to education of schoolchildren attending Holy Cross Primary School".

A series of similar protests by loyalists were held in June because of alleged attacks on the Protestant community in the area.

Nationalist and loyalist residents were involved in fierce rioting in July during tensions raised by the protests.