Police and British soldiers are still on the streets of a Belfast estate tonight after loyalist paramilitaries forced a number of families to flee their homes.
Hundreds of men thought to be associated with the Ulster Volunteer Force ordered households they claimed had associations with the rival Loyalist Volunteer Force to leave the area.
Six families were forced to leave their houses at Garnerville, east Belfast, as part of the continuing feud between the two organisations that has already claimed two lives.
Witnesses said up to 300 men identified a number of houses and flats where suspected LVF associates lived. After the occupants fled last night large crowds were still on the estate today to stop a return.
Neighbours of those ousted refused to condemn the hard-line action. One woman, aged 72, said: "All we want is protection and to get our community back to what it was.
"Those men on the street have been really nice, they speak to us as they go by. "The only ones I feel sorry for are the wee children who have had to leave and lost their friends."
For others, however, the UVF show of strength provoked alarm.
The Reverend Richard Hill of Garnerville Presbyterian Church urged calm. He said: "A lot of residents were terrified at what might happen. People are hoping the situation will calm down rapidly."
David Ervine, leader of the UVF-aligned Progressive Unionist Party, said he believed the action was due to the feud but insisted he had no further insight.
Mr Ervine, who held talks with Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain today, added: "It's important that the police are present." The Democratic Unionist MP for East Belfast, Peter Robinson, demanded the paramilitaries step back and close down.
He said: "Justice or the interests of unionism will not be served by kangaroo courts or lynch mobs on the streets of Belfast."
The police district commander for east Belfast called for any available peacebrokers to intervene. Chief Superintendent Henry Irvine said: "I would appeal for calm and would urge those in the community with influence to use that influence.
"We are very much aware of the concerns of the local community.
"These situations, as we often say, cannot be resolved by police alone. "But let me assure you my officers are on the ground and are working hard to resolve the tensions."