Newtownabbey: Police attacked with petrol bombs and fireworks - BBC News
Police were attacked at the Cloughfern roundabout in the O'Neill Road area on a second night of trouble.
Police were attacked with petrol bombs and fireworks at the Cloughfern roundabout in the O'Neill Road area

Police were attacked with petrol bombs and fireworks in Newtownabbey on a second night of trouble in Northern Ireland.

Officers were targeted at the Cloughfern roundabout in the O'Neill Road area.

A crowd of 30 to 40 people blocked the roundabout with two burning cars at about 20:00 BST.

It followed Friday's night of violence in which 27 police officers were injured in Belfast and Londonderry.

In Newtownabbey, on the outskirts of Belfast, police closed off surrounding roads before approaching the roundabout. It was then they came under attack.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) appealed for calm and asked anyone with any influence in the community to try to ensure young people do not get caught up in criminality.

The situation appeared to have been brought under control by 22:15 BST.

Alliance assembly member John Blair said the violence had to be "utterly condemned" and there was a "need for calm and for parents to check where their children are".

Sinn Féin assembly member Gerry Kelly said the the disturbances in loyalist areas were "an out-working of the DUP's rhetoric and undermining of the PSNI and criminal justice system".

"By their words and actions they have sent a very dangerous message to young people in loyalist areas," he said.

DUP leader Arlene Foster condemned violence that took place in south Belfast on Friday night.

A crowd of 30 to 40 people blocked a roundabout with two burning cars at about 20:00 BST

The situation was brought under control by 22:15 BST