People in many parts of the North spent last night braced for a third night of rioting and violence, as protesters lined barricades in loyalist estates in Belfast and blocked main roads. From early evening, there were reports of sporadic violence in the city.
As shop owners in many districts closed early for the evening, several cars were set alight in the Sandy Row area. On the Donegall Road a bus was hijacked and set on fire.
Violent incidents were also reported in Carrickfergus and Portadown.
In Antrim, two men were hit with shotgun pellets while walking in the Newpark estate in the afternoon. They received injuries in the head, neck and shoulders.
Also in the afternoon, a blast bomb was thrown at police in Carrickfergus.
The scale of violence in loyalist areas over the past three days is amply illustrated in statistics released yesterday by the RUC. These show there were 246 attacks on the security forces up to 6 a.m. yesterday.
Sixty three people were arrested for public order offences and 330 petrol bombing incidents were reported.
Police recovered 522 primed petrol bombs and 101 cars were hijacked. Some 39 houses were damaged, as were 71 other buildings and 213 cars.
Forty-two police officers were injured in rioting and other incidents.
One of them, who was hit by a brick during violence in the Waterside area of Derry on Sunday, was operated upon yesterday to have his cheeks rebuilt.
The violence has continued to affect transport.
Several trains between Belfast and Derry and Belfast and Dublin were cancelled, and the line between Belfast and Lisburn was closed. Ulsterbus also withdrew many scheduled services.
The RUC said a traffic hotline set up to provide information on disturbances had been flooded with calls. It advised motorists ringing it to be patient.
In violence on Monday night and early on Tuesday morning, RUC officers came under fire in three separate attacks in loyalist areas of Belfast. Petrol bombs were thrown at several RUC stations and patrols.
Sectarian attacks on Catholic homes and businesses continued in parts of Counties Antrim and Down.
The last four Catholic families living on the Glenfield estate in Carrickfergus were burned out, and a Catholic-owned guesthouse was badly damaged in a petrol bomb attack.
In Dromore, an attempt was made to burn the parochial house.
In Belfast, according to police, up to six shots were fired at RUC officers in the Village area on Monday night, minutes after they had dispersed a crowd of 150 rioters nearby. The shots hit a police vehicle but there were no injuries.
Shortly afterwards, another patrol was fired on in north Belfast. At 12.30 a.m. yesterday, a burst of automatic gunfire was directed at a patrol on the Crumlin Road. Later, petrol bombs were thrown at police in the area.
In another incident, an off-duty officer travelling to Carrickfergus had to fire his gun to escape an angry crowd who tried to set his car alight.
Violent incidents were also reported in Craigavon, Ballymena, Armagh, Coleraine, Larne, Dromore and Killyleagh.
