A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after police came under gunfire in east Belfast amid continuing loyalist rioting.
Two men were arrested after shots were fired at Northern Irish police lines on Saturday evening along the Newtownards Road as riot squad officers dealt with a crowd of 100 loyalists.
One of those detained, a 38-year-old man, was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.
Police officers were bombarded with bricks, smoke bombs, fireworks and petrol bombs in the third successive night of loyalist rioting in the city.
The police deployed a water cannon in the area to quell the disorder that followed a lunchtime protest at Belfast City Hall against the decision to limit the number of days the union flag can be flown.
Up until last month the flag flew every day on top of the hall but following a council vote in December this has now been limited to 17 designated days a year.
A police spokesman urged motorists and other members of the public to avoid a section of the Newtownards Road between Bridge End and the Holywood Arches on Saturday evening.
On Friday night 39 police armoured vehicles were deployed in east Belfast to cope with an estimated 300 loyalist rioters who were hurling petrol bombs and missiles close to a sectarian border with the nationalist Short Strand area, the only Catholic enclave in the east of the city.