A second night of sectarian violence in north Belfast saw the toll of injured policemen rise to 56, with nine PSNI members getting injured last night, as rioters armed with petrol bombs attacked police lines in the Carlisle Circus area of Belfast.

Last night, rioters hurled stones, bottles, rocks and fireworks and hijacked a police van in Denmark Street only to push it back towards the police line. Police officers used water cannons and fired six plastic baton rounds at the crowd to subdue the violence that began on Sunday night, when 47 PSNI officers were injured during a republican parade that involved loyalists too.

A large crowd gathered yesterday at noon time between the Belfast Orange Hall and Carlisle Circus for a lawful parade. The police, who had no intimation of the protest, arrived at the scene only to observe masked miscreants breaking masonry.

In order to mellow the tension and facilitate a lawful parade, police talked to community representatives. Police moved the crowd back towards Carlisle Circus for the parade to pass along its apprised route.

Parade supporters and protesters engaged in rioting by exchanging bricks and other missiles as the procession passed through the area. However, most of the violence was directed at police lines. As the parade dispersed, youngsters also began attacking police in the Antrim Road area. Rioting continued until 2 am in the night after which situation was brought under control.

The cause of the rioting dates back to July 12, when a loyalist band who were captured on camera playing a sectarian song outside St.Patrick’s Catholic church in nearby Donegall Street.

The Young Conway Volunteers flute band was banned from repeating the action on August 25, but the youngsters rebelled the ruling and along with other bands continued to play a series of loyalist tunes. This resulted in brief violence with local Catholic residents.