Police officers in Northern Ireland on Monday confirmed that they had been attacked with petrol bombs and bricks in unrest which lasted for three consecutive nights.

On Friday, 27 police officers were injured in clashes with protesters that broke out in the cities of Belfast and Londonderry. 

In an attack which local police called "orchestrated," 30 petrol bombs were thrown at police officers in Newtownabbey on Saturday. Three vehicles were set on fire. 

The violence came amid increasing tensions within the loyalist community over post-Brexit trading arrangements, which have been claimed to have created barriers between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK.

Anger ramped up further following a controversial decision not to prosecute 24 Sinn Fein politicians for attending a large-scale republican funeral during COVID-19 restrictions.