Belfast's most senior police officer has said loyalist paramilitaries are to blame for the "significant majority" of serious violence in parts of east and north Belfast.
Mr Alan McQuillan was addressing an open meeting of the Policing Board in Belfast yesterday, the first such meeting attended by the new Chief Constable, Mr Hugh Orde.
Following politically sensitive claims last week by Mr McQuillan that paramilitaries on both sides were responsible for orchestrating street violence, the SDLP's Mr Alex Attwood asked the PSNI delegation who was most to blame.
Mr McQuillan reiterated his claims about both IRA and UVF involvement in violence, but stressed: "The significant majority of that has come from loyalist paramilitary groups." He said much loyalist violence was directed against Catholics but also against the police and members of the British army.
He was challenged on this by the unionist peer, Lord Kilclooney, formerly Mr John Taylor. Mr McQuillan stood by his remarks. He also referred to huge police operations on a nightly basis to try to maintain calm at sectarian interfaces in Belfast. He said 38 people had been arrested in east Belfast in connection with street disturbances - nine nationalists and 29 loyalists. In north Belfast, 56 arrests have been made - 29 nationalists and 27 loyalists.
Mr Hugh Orde, providing his first security assessment since succeeding Sir Ronnie Flanagan this week, said: "Blame doesn't solve the problem." He said it fell to the police to provide the space for politics to provide a solution.
Both senior officers repeatedly stressed the poor levels of police resources, a point raised by Mr Colin Cramphorn last month when he was acting chief constable.
Mr Orde said the service had been significantly depleted by the severance package on offer following the Patten Report, which called for the RUC to be scrapped and replaced by the new service. He has said he needs another 200 detectives and additional officers to deal with the current situation. The PSNI has a severe absenteeism problem and has been diminished by the loss of so many senior officers. Army back-up is now routine at sectarian interfaces in Belfast, the meeting was told.