Sinn Féin leaders met the Ardoyne community yesterday as part of a concerted effort, they said, to contain rising anger over the Orange march in the area on Monday night.
Violence erupted as Orangemen and supporters passed by Ardoyne amid a significant security operation. The injured included members of the police and British army, nationalist and loyalist protesters, and Sinn Féin's Mr Gerry Kelly.
Ardoyne residents complain they were hemmed into the small enclave by the police and army to facilitate an anti-Catholic organisation marching where it was not wanted.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland yesterday justified its handling of the parade, saying it made the best of a difficult situation in the absence of an accommodation between the Orange Order and nationalist residents.
Asst Chief Constable Duncan McCausland said there was no policing solution to such disputed parades; only local accommodation would ease tension.
"We did not betray anyone, we policed the law as the law was laid down," he said. He confirmed that, as Chief Constable Hugh Orde said last week, Parades Commission determinations would be policed throughout the marching season.
The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, called the disturbances "deeply regrettable and disturbing".
"I know that there are widespread concerns about the handling of this march, and specifically that those not directly involved in the march were allowed to proceed through the Ardoyne," he said.
"It is now important to establish precisely what happened, and to see what lessons can be learned. We will be receiving a full report from officials who were on the ground last night, and we will be discussing these issues with the British side," he added.
The Orange Order condemned Ardoyne nationalists saying: "So much for those who claim to be striving to build an Ireland of equals based on parity of esteem."
The DUP's Mr Nelson McCausland condemned what he called nationalist violence, saying it was "disappointing but not surprising". He called for the Parades Commission to be abolished.
The party said the future of the commission should be on the agenda for September's talks involving the two governments and the parties.
The Parades Commission, which rules on contentious marches, said it regretted and condemned the violence. Its seven members called for talks between marchers and residents.
The order refuses to talk directly to residents' groups or the commission.
Mr Gerry Adams yesterday branded this refusal "reprehensible", and claimed a republican march in contentious circumstances would have been handled differently.
Mr Adams praised Ardoyne republicans for working to create calm in the area on Monday, but warned against underestimating the seriousness of the situation. The commission ruling and policing decisions "send entirely the wrong signal", he said.
Contacts with the British government over the weekend involving himself and Mr Martin McGuinness had uncovered a determination "to bring what amounted to a group of sectarian bullyboys up through this area", Mr Adams said.
He accused Northern Secretary Mr Paul Murphy of "facilitating the DUP" while "securocrats" had regained the ascendancy.
The Irish Times has learned that contacts between Mr Adams and Mr Murphy over the weekend were marked by particularly angry exchanges over the Ardoyne parade ruling.
Mr Adams said he had warned the British government of rekindled nationalist anger, especially among the youth, and placed that anger in a wider context.
He referred to last October's failed initiative involving an act of IRA decommissioning, the recent Independent Monitoring Commission report and sanctions and what he called the tolerance of loyalist paramilitary activity.
These were fuelling "a very dangerous anger" among those who supported the peace process and who now needed "visible signs of progress".
Mr Adams was accompanied by Mr Gerry Kelly, who had his arm in a sling as a result of the violence, and other Assembly members and councillors. They said they expected tough talking from residents. Mr Adams said residents had suffered from "the same old story".
"Nationalists were hemmed in, were beaten and the loyalists were shepherded through. Orange marches should not be permitted to go where they are not wanted. If they want to go somewhere they should come and talk." He said unionists within the "British system" got their way, but warned nationalists would not accept triumphalism. The number of protesters in Ardoyne illustrated the scale of the anger, he said. "Croppies are not lying down, we are not taking it any longer. We want to extend the hand of friendship, but we won't have it bitten off."
Two more loyalist parades are planned for Ardoyne next month.
Plenty of blame to be shared for violence at Ardoyne: page 14