Children as young as eight years old have been involved in the violence.

For them it is a chance to stay out late and play with the 'big boys'. The older rioters welcome them, especially when they can push them to the frontline as a human shield. Or as one senior police officer put it, "sandbags made of young children".

Waiting in the shadows are the ringleaders - dissident republicans using street violence as the latest vehicle for their attempts to destroy the peace process.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern+ireland-10642007