Political efforts to defuse tensions at sectarian interfaces continued yesterday after further disturbances in north, east and south Belfast.
The Ulster Unionist Party, which met police commanders in east Belfast yesterday, and Sinn Féin, which held discussions with the Northern Justice Minister, Mr Des Browne made separate proposals aimed at helping end the trouble.
Mr Browne has now held a series of "useful" meetings with unionist, nationalist, loyalist and republican representatives designed to bring the sectarian trouble to an end.
"If we get a commitment from all sides to translate their intentions into action we can move forward constructively. For our part we will shortly have specific proposals which are designed to make a practical difference," he said.
The UUP enterprise minister, Sir Reg Empey, called for the erection of close circuit TV cameras at the east Belfast interface to determine who was chiefly responsible for the violence.
Sir Reg also called for a change in police tactics to tackle the problem. "The police and British government have an obligation to provide protection for the community," he said after his meeting with the police. The Sinn Féin chairman, Mr Mitchel McLaughlin, said he proposed to Mr Browne yesterday the creation of communication networks at the sectarian flash points to help quell violence before it could get out of hand.
As each side blames the other for provoking the disturbances, and as police officers are accused of being heavy-handed, Mr McLaughlin also called for the creation of an independent monitoring group to operate at the flash points in order to establish where the truth lay.
The proposals came after further disorder in the city. Six police officers were injured when they came under attack in east Belfast on Tuesday night into early yesterday morning, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland.
Police said there were sporadic incidents throughout Tuesday night at the interface between loyalist Cluan Place and nationalist Clandeboye.
Several missiles were thrown including petrol bombs, fireworks, and bricks and bottles. Police fired two plastic bullets during the incidents. A pipe-bomb type device and a hand-grenade were defused in the Short Strand by British army bomb disposal experts. Around midnight on Tuesday police vehicles dispersed a crowd of loyalists gathered on the Albertbridge Road, close to the nationalist Short Strand. Police said six officers were injured. It was also reported that a 12-year-old boy and a teenage girl were injured.
SDLP councillor for north Belfast, Mr Martin Morgan, said that loyalist paramilitaries were trying to commit murder when they fired on a Catholic home in Alliance Avenue on Tuesday night. No one was injured in the incident but Mr Morgan said those in the house "were lucky to escape with their lives".
Sinn Féin north Belfast councillors Ms Margaret McClenaghan and Mr Eoin O Broin also raised this shooting when they met the US consul general, Ms Barbara Stevenson, yesterday to discuss the violence in Belfast. Ms McClenaghan said the UDA was behind most of the attacks in north Belfast. "Since the announcement of the loyalist 'no first strike' policy there have been more than 40 pipe-bombings, 17 gun attacks and 77 other attacks. Almost half of these attacks have been concentrated in north Belfast," she said after meeting Ms Stevenson.
Ms Ruth Patterson, a DUP councillor in south Belfast, said Protestant people and homes in the loyalist Village area were being subjected to regular attacks from nationalists. She said nationalists were launching their attacks from the Falls Road.
"Again we see the forces within the nationalist community venting its hatred on its Protestant neighbours with the full backing of Sinn Féin/IRA," added Ms Patterson.
