Rioting last night Co Armagh was today blamed on dissident republican groups opposed to the peace process.
PSNI officers and fire crews came under attack during the trouble in the Lurgan and Craigavon areas.
The incidents began just after 7pm when three masked men seized a bus at the Drumbeg roundabout in Craigavon. Passengers on the bus were ordered off. Around 45 minutes later a van was hijacked on the nearby Old Portadown Road outside Lurgan.
A crowd that gathered at the area then threw stones and other objects at emergency services. Police remained at the scene last night.
Sinn Féin and the PSNI today today clashed over claims the security forces were protecting informants in dissident republican groups.
The Craigavon area has suffered outbreaks of rioting in recent months and senior Sinn Fein representative John O’Dowd said the local community wanted the thugs off their back.
“There is a suggestion that some of them are involved in some level as informers or agents and if they are I would call for their immunity to be lifted immediately and for those people to be put through the judicial process.”
PSNI Superintendent Alan McCrum responded: “I would categorically refute what has been said. Nobody is above the law. The police are not in any way protecting informers,” he said.
He added that Mr O'Dowd's comments were an insult to police officers.
SDLP representative for the area Dolores Kelly condemned the violence. “This type of trouble has only serves to cause disruption to the community and has absolutely no support."
PA