Two people have been hit by baton rounds fired by police in North Belfast. It is not known if they were badly injured.
A PSNI spokesman said tonight that officers fired a number of rounds after coming under "sustained assault" on the Ardoyne Road. He said they were attacked by rioters armed with petrol bombs, fireworks and other objects.
The violent sectarian disturbances in North Belfast had appeared to have subsided earlier this evening, but flared up again.
A PSNI spokesman said earlier 14 police officers were injured in the rioting, none seriously.
Three people were rushed to hospital suffering from gunshot wounds this afternoon. A fourth person was also injured after being struck by a vehicle.
The disturbances flared this afternoon after a loyalist mob reportedly attacked Catholic parents outside Holy Cross school.
This afternoon a spokesman for the PSNI described the scene in the Glenbryn and Ardoyne areas as a "very serious civil disturbance".
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Officers in riot gear were deployed to try to keep two loyalist and nationalist gangs apart near Alliance Avenue, he said. A number of fireworks, stones and bottles were thrown and an armoured car was destroyed by a petrol bomb thrown by loyalists.
The three shot men were picked up by ambulances at the junction of Ardoyne Road and the Crumlin Road. A PSNI spokesman said it appeared their injuries were not life-threatening.
Motorists were warned by police to avoid the Ardoyne and Crumlin Road areas over the ongoing unrest, and at least five cars were burnt out in the area.
Windows at the Holy Cross school were broken and cars attacked when Catholic parents went to collect their children from school. Fr Aidan Troy, chairman of the school's Board of Governors, said it would remain closed tomorrow.
"I'm afraid the situation may be back at square one," he said. "This is the result of a monumental failure of communication."
"There were signs over the past few days that the situation may have been deteriorating," he added. "In reality, the dispute never ended because the underlying issues were never addressed."
Ulster Unionist First Minister Mr David Trimble and his deputy, Mr Mark Durkan of the SDLP, have appealed for calm.
Politicians from both communities blamed the other for the violence.
A local Sinn Féin councillor claimed Protestant residents "verbally and physically abused" parents collecting their children.
"Loyalists appear to have renewed the blockade of the school," claimed Ms Margaret McClenaghan. "Those responsible are clearly intent on raising sectarian tensions in the area, following the same agenda as the UDA have been following over the past number of years."
Loyalist residents claim the trouble was sparked by the removal from a lamp post of a memorial wreath for a Protestant taxi-driver murdered in 2000.
Mr Billy Hutchinson of the loyalist PUP said local Protestants were blaming the Catholic parents for igniting the trouble.
The SDLP's Mr Alban Maginness, MLA for north Belfast, described the escalation of tensions as a "worrying development".
Protests by loyalists over Catholic families using the Glenbryn Road to walk to the school were called off after three months in December following negotiations between politicians and community representatives.