France, June 10 -- Hundreds of protesters, many wearing masks, gathered in several parts of the Northern Ireland capital. A bus and several cars were set alight, roads were blocked and a building near the city centre caught fire, forcing residents to evacuate.

Police helicopters flew overhead as officers responded to unrest across the city. Crowds also gathered in Antrim, about 25 kilometres west of Belfast.

"By 7:30pm they started a fire in the bins... we heard police cars and sirens," said Eemran, an engineer of Indian origin who has lived in Belfast for just over a year.

"More and more people started coming, they started throwing petrol bombs. Suddenly the fire started going... we had smoke inside the building... fire people came in...