Trouble broke out at an interface area of north Belfast tonight, close to the street where the badly disfigured body of a murder victim was found earlier today.
Youths from nationalist and loyalist areas clashed and when the police arrived they were attacked.
This morning the body of a local man in his 30s was found in an alleyway off Elmfield Street, in Ardoyne, and one theory being examined suggests a shovel or similar implement was used to bludgeon the victim to death.
Two miles away in west Belfast the body of another man with bullet wounds was found near a GAA club off the Falls Road.
The PSNI are not commenting on whether the two murders are linked or whether there is any connection to a man who is currently being questioned after he turned up with bullet wounds at a local hospital.
In recent weeks several violent incidents, including gun attacks, took place in north Belfast.
Among the theories being involved is that dissident republicans or criminal elements were centrally involved.
Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has said anyone with information should bring it to the police.
