Fresh trouble breaks out in west Belfast

Furniture was set on fire in the middle of the Shankill Road close to where a bus was set alight earlier this month.

Police are in attendance monitoring a crowd gathered across Lanark Way and the Shankill Road on the loyalist side of the nearby peace line.

Meanwhile, images have emerged of a loyalist protest in Newtownards, Co Down.

Loyalists were pictured holding an anti-Northern Ireland Protocol banner.

It comes after a break of around a week, following a succession of days where violence broke out following a number of loyalist protests across Northern Ireland.

The worst of the trouble came on both sides of the peace wall gates at Lanark Way on Wednesday April 7 and Thursday April 8 where police used plastic bullets and water cannon against the crowds.

Protests were temporarily paused following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.

Loyalist anger at the protocol has been cited as one of the main factors behind the violence that erupted earlier this month.

Another was the decision not to prosecute 24 Sinn Fein members for Covid-19 breaches after they attended a mass republican funeral during the pandemic.

There are also more long-standing concerns held by some loyalists that they have missed out on the gains of the peace process in areas such as jobs, investment and housing.

Nationalists reject the contentions and insist their communities experience just as many problems with poverty.