Forty hardcore joyriders have been identified by police fighting car crime in Northern Ireland’s most plagued district, it was revealed today.

The senior police officer who allowed loyalists to march past the Ardoyne against the wishes of the Parades Commission last summer has been put in charge of policing in nationalist West Belfast.

Work got underway today to dismantle one of Belfast’s best known police stations.

The Lord Mayor of Belfast today called for water cannon to be deployed in the north of the city following another weekend of vicious sectarian rioting.

Police chiefs are denying they could have done more to prevent the rioting that erupted in north Belfast.