Violence condemned as clean-up operation under way after Belfast disorder

A clean-up operation is under way after a night of disorder in Belfast which saw people forced to flee their homes, in protests that followed a knife attack.

A family had to be rescued from their burning home by emergency services.

Houses, cars and a bus were set on fire and all public transport was suspended in the city on Tuesday night. Politicians condemned the violent scenes and called for calm.

All bus and train services resumed on Tuesday morning, Translink said.

A 30-year-old Sudanese man is due to appear in court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder following the attack in north Belfast on Monday night.

He has also been charged with possession of an article with blade in a public place and threats to kill.

A man in his 40s remains in hospital with serious injuries to his eyes, neck and back after the attack in Kinnaird Avenue at about 22:30 BST.

There were also peaceful protests in others areas including Antrim, Ballymena, Londonderry, Larne and Bangor, as well as protests in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Southampton elsewhere in the UK.

Sara Girvin, BBC Ireland Correspondent, in Belfast

It's very much the morning after the night before in east Belfast.

The wreckage of a bus set on fire last night is still smouldering as cars try their best to manoeuvre around it.

Further along the Newtownards Road cars and houses lie like shells.

The smell of burnt wood and plastic lies thick in the air and people's belongings, turned to ash, lay strewed everywhere.

A video widely circulated online showed a number of people, including one wielding a hurling stick, confront the apparent attacker until police officers arrived at the scene on Monday night.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said "sporadic pockets of disorder" broke out in response.

On Tuesday night Northern Ireland's Justice Minister Naomi Long said "hate cannot be allowed to win" in response to the disorder while First Minister Michelle O'Neill described it as "outright thuggery".

"Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice," O'Neill said.

"There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight."

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly urged people to protest peacefully.

"I know all are horrified about what has happened. I know so many are angry and there are those who want to register a protest," she said.

"This is an appeal to act in an entirely peaceful way. Violence does not advance any cause, it damages it."

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said "people have been rightly shocked" by the attack in north Belfast on Monday but added that police must be allowed to do their job.

At one stage a masked group of about 100 people made their way down the Newtownards Road in east Belfast attacking houses and setting fire to vehicles – including a bus.

A family had to be rescued from their burning home on Lendrick Street.

A man in his 30s told BBC News NI he had lived on the street for 10 years.

"Cars were set alight on the road, which caught fire to my house but masked men were bashing down doors," he said.

Elsewhere, a police Land Rover was attacked on the Crumlin Road and two cars were set alight at the Cloughfern roundabout in Newtownabbey while a police car was also set ablaze in Portadown.

The violence was widely condemned by political parties across the political spectrum.

In a joint statement issued before the disorder, Northern Ireland's five main political parties said they are "united" in their condemnation of the attack on Monday.

It was signed by Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill, the Alliance Party's Naomi Long, Jon Burrows from the UUP, the DUP's Gavin Robinson, and Claire Hanna from the SDLP.

As the disorder raged, SDLP leader Claire Hanna criticised the havoc being wreaked across Northern Ireland.

"What you're seeing is a race-based pogrom, we are seeing men going door to door asking to 'get the foreigners out' based exclusively on the colour of their skin."

Baroness Foster, former leader of the DUP, called for "deescalation", adding that it is for "politicians to answer questions about immigration".

"If you're a parent you should be wondering where your 15,16,17 old is and get them home."

Also commenting was Conservative MP Sir Jeremy Hunt, who said: "Any politician who sees clips of that horrific stabbing and then tries to exploit it for their own political advantage, is utterly despicable."

Protests also happened in other parts of the UK.

In Scotland groups gathered in Glasgow city centre and St Andrew's Square in Edinburgh.

In England police were deployed in Southampton, after demonstrators gathered outside the Highfield House Hotel.