Police: Paramilitaries Behind Belfast Riot

Loyalist paramilitaries organised major rioting in Belfast and opened fire on police, a senior officer has revealed.

Two loyalists suffered gunshot wounds to the legs during the fighting, which saw around 500 people clash in the east of the city.

Police said shots were fired from the republican Short Strand area and that loyalists had responded.

Masked Ulster Volunteer Force members were blamed for sparking the violence when they attacked homes in the Catholic enclave.

Bullet marks on police vehicles are being treated as an attempt by UVF members to murder officers.

Chief Superintendent Alan McCrum said: "We believe at this point members of the east Belfast UVF were involved.

"It would be a line of investigation to establish whether that was a co-ordinated and organised 'organisational' position.

"But at this point we are satisfied that at the very least members of east Belfast UVF were involved in organising the disorder."

The violence is being described as some of the most serious seen in Northern Ireland for years.

The UVF is one of the biggest loyalist paramilitary groups.

Despite observing a ceasefire and decommissioning its weapons, the group was held responsible for the murder of loyalist Bobby Moffett last year.

The recent appearance of UVF murals in east Belfast depicting masked and armed men was seen as a bid by the group to stamp its mark on the area.

Locals gave conflicting accounts of how the violence started but police insisted it was initiated by the UVF.

Petrol bombs, bricks and other missiles were hurled during the rioting, which comes ahead of the most tense period of the loyalist marching season.

At the height of the disturbances republicans fired six shots, while loyalists fired five shots.

Police say they will step up security in the area in the nights to come.