Protests in support of the Orange Order at Drumcree which paralysed parts of the North turned to violence last night with widespread rioting and hijacking.
All areas of the North were affected by the protests and road blocks which began at 4 p.m. and blocked most arterial roads and major junctions. The official Orange protest were supposed to finish at 8 p.m. In some cases the protests and obstructions stayed in place, in others rioters reappeared in their place.
In Belfast, the RUC pushed 300 protesters back off Albert Bridge Road when they surged towards the nationalist Short Strand area.
In Ballynure, Co Antrim, the RUC used a water cannon to clear protesters off the road. In Rathgael, near Bangor, Co Down, a young woman driver was badly shocked when a mob surrounded her car. One man jumped on the bonnet and the windscreen was smashed by a missile dropped from a flyover.
Police also found component parts for blast bombs in Greenisland, Co Antrim. Four people were arrested for possession of petrol bombs and a fifth for riotous behaviour in Lurgan.
Cars were hijacked and set on fire in disturbances in Newtownards, Lurgan, Dunmurry, Derry, Craigavon, Belfast and Antrim.
The disturbances came after an Orange protest closed over 125 roads in the North and left many towns deserted by mid-afternoon.
Even in nationalist areas or areas where there were no blockades, shops and businesses closed early to ensure that workers got home safely. Rush hour began before 3 p.m. and by the time the road blocks began at 4 p.m. the roads were already deserted.
In Belfast, where the Belfast Chamber of Trade advised its members to close by 3 p.m., Mr Frank Caddy, chief executive of the chamber, said: "We don't need to lose this sort of turnover which must amount to several hundred thousand pounds in the loss of two or three hours of trade."
With the exception of nationalist west Belfast, almost every main road in the city had at least one obstruction. At Carlisle Circus, the main junction for travellers going to the north of Belfast, loyalist leader Johnny Adair marshalled a demonstration.
Other major junctions, such as Shaftsbury Square in south Belfast, Broadway roundabout in west Belfast and the Albert Bridge Road in east Belfast, were blocked. Protesters tried to hijack cars on the Saintfield Road in east Belfast.
In Co Antrim, Antrim town Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus and Ballymena were affected. Ballyclare and Ahoghill were completely closed off. A car belonging to SDLP councillor Mr Oran Keenan, was hijacked and overturned in Antrim town.
In Co Armagh, roads in Lurgan, Portadown and Tandragee, Castlewellan and Markethill were blocked.
In Co Down, the M1 motorway was blocked at Sprucefield, Donaghmore and Dungannon.
Ballynahinch, Newtownards, Annalong, Comber, Downpatrick, Carryduff, Killyleagh, Moira and Newry were also affected. The A1 road to Dublin was later blocked at Dromore.
In Co Derry, many roads in the Protestant Waterside area of the city were blocked. There were protests on Milltown Crescent, Ardmore Road, Limavady Road, Strand Road and the upper deck of the Craigavon Bridge. Dungiven and Magherafelt were also affected.
In Co Tyrone, the Ballygawley roundabout on the main A4 Belfast road was blocked as were roads in Moygashel, Omagh and Aughnacloy.
Although widespread, the protests were, at least initially, peaceful. However, there were a number of incidents.
On the Ormeau Road and on the peaceline between the Falls and Shankill roads, the RUC and army kept loyalist protesters and nationalists apart. At the Falls/ Shankill interface, loyalists threw stones at some 200 nationalists holding a counter-demonstration.
A car was hijacked and abandoned on a motorway bridge at Fortwilliam, north Belfast, prompting the closure for a time of the M2, M3 and M5.
In Newtownabbey, bomb disposal officers were called to deal with suspected pipe bombs. The RUC recovered 32 petrol bombs on Thorburn Road in another part of the suburb.
Before the protests began, Orangemen from Portadown and south Belfast picketed the Parades Commission office in Belfast. Some who participated in the demonstration also disrupted traffic afterwards, moving slowly along the M1 in a convoy of 20 vehicles.
Earlier there had been a hoax bomb alert outside the home of a member of the commission. Army bomb disposal officers carried out a controlled explosion on the object outside Mr Billy Martin's house in Greyabbey, Co Down, before declaring it a hoax.