Thirteen people have appeared in court in Limavady and an 11-year-old boy was in a stable condition in hospital in Belfast after rioting in Derry on Saturday which led to considerable damage to property.
Police had closed off the citycentre to allow an Apprentice Boys' parade to pass through. The boy was hit by a rock during the disturbances, which continued until 4 a.m. on Sunday.
Police said they fired nearly 170 plastic bullets and that up to 1,000 petrol bombs were thrown at them by rioting youths.
Three buses and a number of other vehicles were hijacked and burned and a department store was badly damaged after it was set alight. Thirteen arrests were made.
At the height of the rioting the British army was brought back on to the streets. It is believed that a number of casualties were taken to hospital in Co Donegal. Stores in the city are estimated to have lost £1 million in trade.
The SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, said it was a "very, very sad day for Derry". He said the Apprentice Boys had the right to exercise their civil rights, and that this right should be fully respected, but they also had a duty to exercise their rights responsibly. "I am asking them to choose their days carefully. Given that commemorations largely end up with religious services, why not pick a Sunday instead of the second Saturday before Christmas?" he said.
Tension was high from early on Saturday morning after negotiations had failed to broker an agreement between the Apprentice Boys and nationalist residents of the Bogside.
The Bogside Residents' Group (BRG) said it intended to hold a counter-demonstration unless the parade was rerouted away from the Diamond because of violence at an Apprentice Boys' parade last August. Hundreds of police in riot gear moved into the city-centre early on Saturday morning and LandRovers were positioned across the Butcher Street and Shipquay Street entrances to the Diamond.
Nationalist protesters led by the Sinn Fein MP, Mr Martin McGuinness, who described the police action as "provocative", walked up to police lines on Butcher Street. His request to be allowed through to observe the parade was turned down by a senior officer. Minor scuffles followed.
The BRG spokesman, Mr Donncha Mac Niallais, addressed up to 300 protesters on Butcher Street, saying the rights of the greater number of the people of Derry had been set aside in order "to accommodate an organisation which has for years inflicted sectarian violence and abuse upon us".
Crowds built up outside the police lines all morning and up to 30 protesters climbed on to a roof overlooking the Diamond shortly before the main parade was due to go through. They unfurled a banner calling for the RUC to be disbanded. Shops closed in anticipation of trouble.
Some 3,000 Apprentice Boys took part in the main parade, which circled the Cenotaph in the Diamond. They then went to a religious service in St Columb's Church of Ireland Cathedral.
A giant effigy of Lundy, a Protestant who was prepared to surrender the city to King James during the Siege of Derry, was burned before the parade returned through the Diamond to the Waterside.
Bands from all over the North took part and minor scuffles broke out during the main parade when members of one Belfast band were reprimanded by stewards for playing music on the Diamond.
Numbers swelled on Shipquay Street as the parade passed, and within minutes hundreds of youths were hurling bottles, bricks and stones at the police. A small number of petrol bombs were thrown and police responded with live baton rounds. Up to 1,000 people were on the street at the time. Vehicles, including three buses, were hijacked and burned and attempts were made to set two banks alight. As darkness descended, the city emptied, and rioting died down until after 11 p.m., when hundreds of youths, some as young as 10, again gathered on William Street and launched hit-and-run petrol-bomb attacks on police at Waterloo Place. Two vehicles were hijacked and burned. Police fired plastic bullets to force the youths back from the city-centre. The situation was brought under control at 4 a.m.
Traders were outraged at the events, saying it should have been one of the busiest days of the year. Mr Garbhan O'Doherty, who owns a number of pubs and a citycentre hotel, said: "Nobody has the right to riot and nobody has the right to close down the city."
Business people were critical of the rioting, but also of the "ring of steel" introduced by the police, he said. The SDLP mayor of Derry, Mr Martin Bradley, said he would not point "the finger of blame" at the police and that all sides had to talk.