Rioting in west Belfast on Wednesday night was on scale not seen in Northern Ireland for years, police have said. During several hours of violence, police officers were attacked, petrol bombs were thrown and a bus was burnt. Police have said eight officers were injured at an interface between loyalist and nationalist areas. Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive said it was “gravely concerned” by recent street violence and has called for calm to be restored. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also condemned the disorder. It was likely that paramilitary organisations were involved and had planned the rioting, according to Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts. He said several hundred people on each side of a barrier separating the loyalist Shankill Road and the nationalist Springfield Road were involved and petrol bombs were thrown in both directions. “Last night was at a scale we haven’t seen in Belfast or further afield in Northern Ireland for a number of years,” he said.(BBC)…[+]