Loyalist violence over the flying of the union flag will be firmly dealt with for as long as necessary, the North’s police chief declared after a fourth night of rioting.

An SDLP councillor, her husband and infant daughter were lucky to avoid injury last night after seven shots were fired at their home.

Police were attacked for a third night, with frontline officers reportedly coming under gunfire as fresh loyalist violence erupted in the North over the flying of the Union Flag.

A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after gunshots were fired during the latest trouble in Belfast.

The PSNI are today investigating reports that a number of shots have been fired at police lines on the Newtownards Road.

Eighteen people have been arrested after nine police officers were injured during the latest outburst of loyalist violence in the North.

Detectives were today hunting a man who held up an off-licence armed with a knife.

More than 60 people were forced to evacuate their homes for the night while firefighters battled a major blaze at a derelict factory in the North.

Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley today had to battle his way through a media scrum to cast his vote in the North’s Assembly Election.

A youth was shot in both legs in what police believe was a paramilitary-style attack in a loyalist area of east Belfast.

A man was treated in hospital tonight after a paramilitary style shooting in Belfast.

A man was treated in hospital tonight after a paramilitary style shooting in Belfast.

A bomb attack on a house in east Belfast – blamed locally on the Ulster Volunteer Force – was condemned tonight by Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy.

A man was shot in a paramilitary-style attack tonight in front of his six-year-old daughter.

A bitter loyalist paramilitary feud tonight erupted into new violence in a gun attack in east Belfast.

A leading loyalist godfather was tonight being questioned by police in Belfast following a raid on a bar in the east of the city.

Police in Belfast have named the man shot dead in the east of the city last night. He was 41-year-old Geoffrey Thomas Grey.