Trouble flared again in north Belfast last night when a crowd of around 100 loyalists attacked the security forces with 26 petrol bombs, 21 blast bombs, bottles, bricks and fireworks at the Halliday's Road/Limestone Road junction.
Police said there were three incidents in which low-velocity rounds were fired at officers. At least five pipe bombs are believed to have been thrown. A police spokesman confirmed that a number of plastic baton rounds were fired to disperse the rioters.
One car was hijacked. There were no reports of any injuries.
Meanwhile, the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) has called for an inquiry into what it described as "police heavy-handedness" during renewed sectarian clashes in north Belfast on Tuesday night.
The call came as a Sinn Féin delegation passed on an amateur video appearing to show a nationalist woman being beaten by a policeman during disturbances on Saturday to the Police Ombudsman, Mrs Nuala O'Loan.
The Limestone Road/North Queen Street/Duncairn Gardens area has seen riots involving both nationalist and loyalist mobs on an almost daily basis for the past two weeks.
A number of police officers were injured in Tuesday night's disturbances, which began in the Newington Street area.
The security forces came under attack from petrol bombs, stones, bricks, bottles and masonry.
A PSNI spokesperson confirmed that one plastic bullet was fired, although loyalist residents claimed that five such rounds had been fired.
The PUP's MLA for North Belfast, Mr Billy Hutchinson, said Protestant residents were unhappy about the way police had handled the disturbances.
A community worker from the nearby Shankill Road area, Mr Alfie McCrory, alleged that one woman was struck by a baton as she attempted to film police swamping the area. "I don't condone what is going on here but when a girl was using a video camera they [the police] cracked her on the head," he said.
A Sinn Féin councillor, Mr Eoin Ó Broin, called for dialogue to resolve the area's problems.
Mr Ó Broin was one of three Sinn Féin delegates who yesterday handed over video footage, allegedly showing police brutality, to the Police Ombudsman.
The five-minute tape, which was filmed during clashes in the North Queen Street area on Saturday, was shown at a Sinn Féin press conference on Tuesday. It appeared to show a Catholic mother, Ms Donna Miskimmon, being beaten by police.