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Belfast mayor Niall O Donnghaile has condemned last night’s Belfast riots, which involved apparnet attacks on Protestant-owned homes and later, retaliatory attacks on the republican Short Strand area.

Two men were shot during the violence, according to the PSNI, while one officer was taken to hospital with an eye injury. Eyewitnesses claim that petrol bombs and pipe bombs were thrown at houses during the incident.

Mr O Donnghaile said of last night’s Short Strand violence: "There is no doubt that this was unprovoked and was a carefully orchestrated and planned attack on the area.

"Homes have been attacked with petrol bombs and paint bombs, bricks, golf balls. I saw what happened."

Unionist Mr Copeland has said that the attacks followed an earlier republican attack on the Newtownards road: "I would say it was several hundred involved in very serious, almost hand-to-hand fighting.

"You will always get two sides to these stories. My understanding is that homes on the Newtownards road have been attacked.

"To be honest it doesn't really matter who is responsible at this stage, it's getting it stopped appears to be the problem," he said.