Rioting in Belfast leaves 14 officers hurt
At least 14 police officers have been injured during rioting in North Belfast.
They were attacked when rival nationalist and loyalist crowds clashed.
Three Catholic youths were also hurt and taken to hospital when they were hit by shot gun pellets. Their injuries were reported to be not serious.
A 13-year-old schoolboy was earlier taken to hospital after being injured when his school bus passed through the Ardoyne area during the trouble and was targeted by stone-throwers.
The violence was sparked by a resumption of disturbances at the flashpoint Holy Cross primary school. Several windows were broken and cars attacked when Catholic parents collecting their children from school faced abuse.
The school will be closed tomorrow in the hope that the situation can be resolved before a fresh and lengthy loyalist protest starts.
Police came under attack from both sides, with protesters throwing petrol bombs, fireworks, stones and bottles. A petrol bomb thrown by loyalists destroyed an armoured police car.
Northern Ireland Security Minister Jane Kennedy has condemned the violence as the action of "mindless thugs" and said it would be a tragedy to throw away the efforts made in recent months to resolve the inter-community issues in the area.
She said: "Children should not have to pay the price of the failure of adults to live together - neither should police be subjected to vicious attacks."
The leaders of Northern Ireland's power sharing executive have appealed for calm in the area around the school. Ulster Unionist First Minister David Trimble and SDLP Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan said the violence was "disturbing".
