Police have come under attack from loyalists in Belfast city centre ahead of a republican parade.
There were clashes in the Royal Avenue area, with officers pelted with bricks and other missiles, as hundreds of loyalist demonstrators gathered to protest at the rally to mark the introduction of internment in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.
Protesters have attempted to block part of the route the Anti-Internment League parade is due to take later this evening. Police have advised the public to avoid the area.
The latest disorder comes after eight officers were injured when trouble flared at a republican anti-internment bonfire near the city centre last night. Eight people were arrested and at one point, as violence spread to north Belfast, officers were attacked by a man wielding a sword.
Less than a month ago parts of Belfast were consumed by rioting, predominantly loyalist, triggered when Orangemen were prevented from parading past the nationalist Ardoyne area in the north of the city.
Parading tensions have also spread elsewhere in Northern Ireland with major controversy surrounding a planned Sinn Féin-backed commemoration event in the Co Tyrone town of Castlederg this Sunday for local IRA members killed during the conflict.
Two police officers have been injured in the initial clashes tonight, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.
Both have been taken to hospital for treatment, a spokeswoman added. Police have deployed water canon and fired plastic baton rounds in a bid to quell the trouble.
PA