Calm has been restored after sectarian fighting tonight erupted in a flashpoint area of north Belfast this evening amid political efforts to resolve the Holy Cross school protest.
Police were called to Gunnell Hill in the Whitewell district after rival crowds of around 20 nationalists and loyalists clashed.
Later there were reports of missiles being thrown into the neighbouring Serpentine area.
A police spokesman said calm had been restored to the area.
The latest violence precedes tomorrow’s meeting between Northern First Minister Mr David Trimble and Deputy First Minister Mr Mark Durkan, and residents from the loyalist Glenbryn estate in the next stage of talks to resolve the Holy Cross protest.
Earlier dissident republican terrorists were blamed for planting an incendiary device which partially exploded in a shop.
Army bomb disposal experts were called to the premises in Hill Street, Newry, Co Down, after the device failed to fully ignite.
Minimal damage was caused to the store, but business people in the town were urged to check their premises.
The incident follows the interception of a massive, fully-primed car bomb near Armagh city yesterday which is being blamed on the Real IRA.
Mr Danny Kennedy, an Ulster Unionist Assembly member for Newry, pointed the finger at the same splinter group which carried out the August 1998 Omagh atrocity in which 29 people were killed.
"It's clear there's a message from these republicans that they have the capability to produce car bombs or incendiary devices and are not afraid to use them," he said.
PA