A senior detective defended the PSNI’s approach to tackling disorder on the streets of Belfast and elsewhere last week.

Micheál Martin emphasised the importance of data sharing and intelligence sharing between Irish and British authorities.

The event organised by Unite Against Racism followed days of unrest following a knife attack in the city.

In a letter, the DUP leader said ‘the answer is not a so-called hard border’ which ‘nobody is proposing’.

The two leaders spoke on the phone on Friday.

The pair were arrested separately in Portadown, Co Armagh, on Wednesday.

Police said 19 arrests had now been made since street violence first erupted on Tuesday.

Stephen Ogilvie lost his left eye and suffered deep cuts to his head, face and back in a stabbing attack on Monday night.

Twelve police officers were injured and 16 arrests were made following unrest on Wednesday evening.

‘This is racism, pure and simple,’ Unison representative Patricia McKeown said.

Stephen Ogilvie’s family has said they don’t want what happened to their loved one to be used to divide people.

Protests were held across Scotland following a stabbing attack on Monday night in North Belfast.

The family of stabbing victim, Stephen Ogilvie, thanked the emergency services and people who stepped in to stop the attack, as they called for calm.

Suspect Hadi Alodid appeared in court charged with attempted murder over the knife attack which triggered violence on the streets of Belfast.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the stabbing attack on Monday was ‘savage’.

Hadi Alodid, 30, appeared before the city’s magistrates’ court on Wednesday charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie.

Tempers have flared following the North Belfast stabbing.

Cars and homes were set on fire as mob violence broke out after a 30-year-old Sudanese man was charged with attempted murder for a knife attack.

Jamie Corry said he lost ‘sentimental’ items in the fire, including some which had belonged to his late father.

Cars and houses were set alight during violent scenes in Northern Ireland on Tuesday, which followed Monday’s stabbing incident.

A man in his 40s sustained serious eye injuries in Monday night’s incident in north Belfast.

A 30-year-old Sudanese man arrested in connection with the knife attack has been charged with attempted murder.

The 30-year-old is due to appear in court in the city on Wednesday morning

A Sudanese man who was given leave to remain in the UK until 2028 has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder

Graphic video footage is circulating online appearing to show the violent incident unfold on Kinnaird Avenue in the north of the city.

But PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Davy Beck said there was no intelligence to suggest it was sanctioned by the organisation’s leadership.

A multi-agency meeting took place after recent attacks in north Belfast.

The call came as police reported attacks on houses in separate incidents in Belfast and Donaghadee.