The PSNI has pressed political and community leaders in south Belfast to work to ease community tensions after street violence there on Thursday night.
Petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown when street disturbances broke out after loyalists in the Donegall Pass area tried to remove flags put up by nationalists on the Lower Ormeau Road to mark the success of the local Gaelic football team.
Asst Chief Constable Duncan McCausland made his call after police were also attacked while trying to intervene between the rival sides.
"This supposedly started off because one community put one flag up on lamp-posts and another community wanted another flag," Mr McCausland said.
"At the end of the day, we have to move beyond that. We have to come together, to live together, in shared space. I think that is the critical issue, not just for Belfast, but for the whole of Northern Ireland. The reality is if we want to live in communities where interface violence is going to be a daily thing, we are going to suffer as a community as a result of that, and therefore I am calling on everyone with any influence in that area to ensure that we don't have, as we have had in other areas, a sequence of running battles on different nights."
He restated a claim made by other senior officers in Co Antrim, which has seen heightened sectarian tensions and a spate of attacks, that police time spent maintaining calm diverted resources away from fighting "ordinary" crime. "The community has to realise that my resources are not infinite.
"If we are dealing with disturbances in an area, we cannot prevent a burglar or a car thief where we cannot ensure that we can deal with anti-social behaviour."
Sinn Féin's Gerry Kelly described the response of the leaders of the UUP and DUP to what he called "the campaign of attacks against Catholics being orchestrated by unionist paramilitaries" as a disgrace.
He called on Sir Reg Empey and the Rev Ian Paisley to use their "considerable influence" with paramilitaries to end the sectarian violence. The PSNI believes loyalist paramilitaries have been behind some, but not all, of the recent upsurge in sectarian violence. Senior officers also point to attacks made against Protestant targets.
Mr Kelly said yesterday: "On a daily basis Catholics homes, schools, businesses and places of worship are being attacked.
"As leader of the UUP, Reg Empey met the Independent Monitoring Commission, not about the 100-plus attacks or the five murders carried out by unionist paramilitaries, but about the IRA. As leader of the DUP, Ian Paisley threatens to break off contact with the Irish Government and is not acting to resolve sectarian violence in his own constituency."
Accusing both men of a failure of political leadership, he said: "Continued delay by unionist leaders only creates the space and political cover for unionist paramilitaries to continue their sectarian campaign."
Meanwhile in Ballymena, suspended Saturday-evening Masses at the frequently attacked Harryville Catholic Church are due to resume tonight. During July and August, the Church of Our Lady in Ballymena voluntarily cancels its 6pm Saturday Mass.