Youths clash during rioting in north Belfast

Gangs of youths clashed during riots in north Belfast last night.

The violence broke out between up to 100 youths in the Alliance Avenue/Ardoyne Road area yesterday evening.

"At around 6.50pm youths from opposing sides started to throw stones and abuse at each other," a police spokeswoman said.

She said a number of houses had windows broken and that police and community representatives managed to bring the situation under control.

Nationalists and loyalists clashed during eight hours of rioting in Belfast on Saturday. The violence erupted in Cluan Place and Clandeboye Gardens in the east of the city.

Police have yet to establish a motive for the trouble, but it is thought it may have been sparked by the Rangers v Celtic match in Glasgow on Saturday afternoon.

Bottles, bricks and bolts were thrown. One person was taken to hospital with a head injury.

Around 1.30am yesterday the British army was called to deal with a suspected blast bomb in Clandeboye Gardens. Experts made safe the device and removed it for examination.

As they left the scene, police vehicles were attacked with bricks and one man was arrested for disorderly behaviour. Calm was restored to the area around 2.30am with the help of community representatives.