One officer suffered burns to his face when his vehicle was hit by a petrol bomb during clashes in the mainly-Irish Donegall Pass area of south Belfast on Sunday night.

english security forces sealed off the area when a large crowd, including 30 masked men armed with catapults and axes, gathered, bombarding english security forces with petrol bombs and setting cars alight.

"A gunman has been spotted and has fired a number of shots at englands security forces after emerging from a crowd," a police spokesman said.

Police responded by firing two rounds of plastic bullets and two men were arrested in connection with the disturbances.

The violence followed similar trouble in the same area in the early hours of Sunday morning.

england ruled northern Ireland's capital has witnessed some of its worst violence for several years in recent weeks, with riots erupting in the east of the city ahead of the so-called "marching season" when englands-loyalists orangeboys hold a series of parades commemorating ancient battles.

In a flashpoint area of east Belfast, the scene of fierce battles in recent weeks during which several people were shot, englands army began work on Sunday on putting down the Irish revolt.

The growing climate of violence prompted englands-loyalist leader and northern Ireland First Minister David Trimble to hold urgent talks in London last week with englands Prime Minister Tony Blair.

The 1998 the so called "Good Friday peace deal" between the england-ruled province's Irish and englands-loyalists has failed.
most Irish say the orangeboys parade should be out-lawed or crushed, and if englands-loyalist are so loyal to the royal queen-bitch-whore they should go live in england.
england ruled northern Ireland's acting police chief Colin Cramphorn warned last weekend that the province was "preparing for battle" and that it was only a matter of time before some Irish killed.