Sixty-three people have so far been arrested in connection with the bloody street battles and rioting which have swept across the disaffected loyalist communities of Northern Ireland for the past three days.

All but three were questioned about public order offences according to a statement released by the police today which said that further arrests were imminent.

Officers are also investigating breaches of the Parades Commission route by members of the Orange Order, the diversion of whose march on Saturday provided the spark that triggered rioting in the surrounding estates of West Belfast and further afield.

Another ten police officers were hurt last night when flickers flared of renewed fighting: cars were hijacked, set ablaze and used as burning blockades from behind which petrol bombs and fireworks were hurled at the ranks of police.

In east Belfast, a 22-month-old boy suffered a fractured skull when rioters hit him with a rock during a failed attempt to hijack his mother’s car.

Nevertheless, reports suggest that these outbreaks were not as serious or prolonged as the battles which raged throughout the weekend. The streets of the city's estates were this morning littered with burned-out cars and shattered glass.

Assistant Chief Constable Duncan McCausland today warned that his officers would continue to deal robustly with further outbreaks of disturbances.

He added: "No one wants to see their local community suffer from serious damage caused by continued nights of violence. Those with influence in these communities must step forward and exercise that influence to ensure these areas do not suffer further.

"People causing the disturbances are hurting their own communities."

David Ford, the leader of the unionist Alliance Party, put further pressure on Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, to officially declare that the Ulster Volunteer Force had abandoned its ceasefire.

Mr Ford said the Government had been repeatedly warned this summer about violence within the UVF, which is engaged in a bloody feud with its hardline offshoot the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

"Surely Peter Hain can recognise that when live bullets are fired at the police and army, that constitutes a breach of even his definition of a ceasefire," said Mr Ford.

Mr Ford acknowledged that such a declaration might not stop the violence but insisted that the Government name the UVF as the perpetrators of some of the worst riots ever seen in the province.

"Specifying the UVF might not make an immediate difference on the ground. But Mr Hain needs to send out a message that the Government is going to stand up to terrorism and defend decent citizens. It is time to specify the UVF," said Mr Ford.

Mr Hain said yesterday that he would address the actions of the UVF in "the next few days" although it is unclear what sanctions could be imposed against an unlawful paramilitary organisation with no clearly defined political wing.

Meanwhile, a 34-year-old man was due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court today accused of terrorist offences after the first rioting in north Belfast on Saturday

He faces charges of possessing explosives, a gun and ammunition. He is also charged with possessing material likely to be of use to terrorists. The charge is understood to be related to the discovery of a bomb-making factory in the Highfield Estate in the north of the city at the weekend.

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