Two people were shot last night during renewed disturbances in the loyalist Cluan Place area of east Belfast.
The victims were treated at the scene before being taken to hospital at around 6 p.m. yesterday. It was not clear how serious their injuries were. Witnesses claimed that shots had been fired from the nationalist Short Strand area.
During the evening police officers supported by some 300 British soldiers were deployed in east Belfast to help prevent a recurrence of the serious rioting at the weekend.
On Sunday evening three people were shot, houses were burned and old people forced from their homes at an interface in the Short Strand district.
In a strident warning yesterday the acting chief constable, Mr Colin Cramphorn, said Northern Ireland was headed for a "fresh nightmare" in which lives could be lost unless there was a stepping back from the abyss. Using perhaps his strongest words since taking over as interim police chief after the departure of Sir Ronnie Flanagan in April, Mr Cramphorn warned: "Both sides need to realise the severity of the situation we are facing. They are sleepwalking into an abyss. It is only a matter of time before somebody is killed unless steps are taken to de-escalate the situation."
He added: "They need to stop and realise that the entire community on the island of Ireland and potentially beyond, in Great Britain, will pay a heavy price if they walk off that abyss."
The latest trouble flared despite the recent erection of new security gates at a sectarian interface in the Madrid Street area of Short Strand. The violence erupted at Cluan Place nearby. Police say they will respond with "a long game" tactic and use video footage to identify the ringleaders on the streets.
Mr Cramphorn pointed out that in addition to the arrests made on Sunday night some 14 people now face charges following police action to quell unrest in the north of the city. The shooting victims, two 15-year-old boys and a 39-year-old man were recovering yesterday, their injuries are understood not to be life-threatening. All three are Protestants.
Clearing up continued yesterday, but police officers are fearful of further trouble overnight as loyalists hold jubilee street parties in the streets of the lower Newtownards road area adjacent to the republican Short Strand enclave.
About 250 soldiers drafted into Northern Ireland to boost security for the visit by Queen Elizabeth last month have been retained.
Both communities blamed each other for the trouble. The Progressive Unionist Party leader, Mr David Ervine, said: "These people have gone through a weekend of terror." He accused the Provisional IRA of being responsible for the violence.
Local republicans meanwhile say the UVF is resurgent in the area. Mr Alex Maskey, the West Belfast Sinn Féin Assemblyman due to be elected Lord Mayor later this week, said it was difficult to be sure how the trouble started.