The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, has called for "rethinking on all sides" to prevent a repeat of the violence which engulfed Derry at the weekend following an Apprentice Boys parade through the city.
Thirteen people appeared in court in Limavady last night on charges relating to the riots, which led to a number of injuries and considerable damage to some citycentre premises.
An 11-year-old boy who was hit by a stone was described as stable in a Belfast hospital. In Derry last night police reported that all was quiet.
A hasty clean-up operation got under way yesterday morning as angry shopkeepers opened for trading, and tried to make up for some of the estimated £1 million pre-Christmas trade lost on Saturday. Council workers cleared charred buses and vans and swept glass and stones from the streets.
Vehicles were hijacked and set alight during Saturday night's rioting, and attempts were made to burn a number of buildings.
Trouble flared when nationalists became angry after police closed off entrances into the city centre to allow 3,000 Apprentice Boys to parade around the central Diamond area.
The British army was brought back on to streets for a time, and police fired 170 plastic bullets, and said up to 1,000 petrol bombs were thrown during the disturbances, which continued until 4 a.m. on Sunday.
The violence was condemned by both the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair.
The RUC said the violence was planned and co-ordinated by "a small, extreme group". Nationalist representatives and a number of observers from civil liberties groups strongly criticised the police handling of the situation.
Mr Hume said it was "a very, very sad day for Derry" but that he believed the goodwill was there to prevent a repeat of the violence. "The sooner we get all sides together, we can translate that into positive development," he said.
Mr Mark Durkan of the SDLP said he believed there was a degree of co-ordination behind the violence but also strongly criticised the police. Their stated aim of accommodating the commercial life of the city, the parade and the Bogside residents' protest had in fact only resulted in the parade being accommodated, he said.
Mr Durkan was particularly critical of the fact that members of the RUC in riot gear entered the Richmond shopping centre with dogs in search of a group of protesters.
Police decisions were far from even-handed or deft, he said, but this in no way excused the orchestration of violence. "The idea that, in protest at not being able to move around your own town, you burn it is madness," he said.
Mr Jeffrey Donaldson of the Ulster Unionist Party defended the police action and accused nationalists in Derry of "a lack of respect for the culture and identity of the other tradition".
Sinn Fein's Northern chairman, Mr Gerry O hEara, accused the RUC of attacking young people with batons and of setting dogs on them. He said he did not condone the destruction of property but he could "understand the frustration of young people".
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, said the key message from Saturday's events was that efforts had to be redoubled to end conflicts associated with parades.
"The key to this is flexibility and generosity on all sides, those organising parades, those who oppose them and the security forces," he said.
Early tension ends in inevitable riot; Violence planned, says RUC: page 5
Editorial comment: page 17