The first leg of the most controversial Orange parade of the Ulster loyalist marching season passed off peacefully on Tuesday morning.
After violence on Monday night, there was a heavy police presence on Belfast's Crumlin Road as officers separated loyalist marchers and nationalist demonstrators as the parade passed by the Ardoyne shops.
Amid driving rain and the drone of a police helicopter overhead the Orangemen and two loyalist bands were accompanied by two rows of protesters shortly before 8.30am on Tuesday. As marchers reached the nearby Protestant Twaddell Avenue they were given a heroes' reception by local loyalists.
Attention now turns to Tuesday evening, when the parade will return up the Crumlin Road past the nationalist area. A rally has been organised for Tuesday afternoon in Ardoyne with some demonstrators vowing to block the Crumlin Road to prevent the Orangemen's return.
Violence overnight in Belfast saw 22 police officers injured as nationalist youths attacked the security forces hours before the biggest day in the Orange Order's calendar.
Plastic bullets were fired and water cannon was deployed to deal with a mob of up to 200 youths in the Broadway area in the west of the city. The rioters attacked police lines separating the area from the loyalist Village district close to the M1 motorway.
Baton rounds were also fired during street disturbances in the Oldpark area of north Belfast close to a so-called peaceline separating nationalist and loyalist communities.
Police were also investigating reports that gunshots were fired in the area but there are no reports of any injuries.
A bus was hijacked on the Falls Road with the driver dragged from the vehicle and passengers ordered off it. It was then driven at police lines on the Donegall Road, but crashed a short distance away. A van was also set alight on the Donegall Road.
About 40 people gathered in North Queen Street near the city centre and petrol bombs have been thrown at police.
There was a minor disturbance on the Shore Road after a barricade was erected across the road at Greencastle Station.
Up to a quarter of a million people are expected to attend or watch the annual 12 July parades across Northern Ireland, the biggest of which will take place through Belfast.
