A press photographer was shot in the leg and two other people were injured when riots
broke out between Protestants and Catholics in Belfast overnight. It was the second
night in a row of violence.
Police said around 700 people threw fireworks,
petrol bombs and other missiles in the Newtonards area of the city, a night after
two people suffered gunshot wounds in what politicians described as the worst violence
of its kind in the area for a decade.
Some 500 people fought in the Short
Strand area, a pocket of Catholic houses in the predominantly Protestant east side
of the city, on the previous night when shots were fired by both sides.
The
violence comes at the start of Northern Ireland's marching season, a time of annual
parades by Protestants which has triggered violent protests by Catholics in the past.
Northern Ireland Police said the Ulster Volunteer Force, a Unionist paramilitary
group, was responsible for the riots.