A press photographer was shot in the leg during a second straight night of sectarian riots in Belfast, Northern Ireland, according to reports in the British press.

Three shots were fired during the riots on Tuesday night, one of them striking the photographer in the leg. The photographer is said to be in stable condition at a hospital. His name has not been released pending notification of his family.

The loyalist group UVF (Ulster Volunteer Force), which is supposed to be observing a cease fire, is believed to be stoking the violence in the Short Strand neighborhood—a small Catholic enclave in a largely Protestant section of Belfast. On Monday rioters attacked houses and shots were fired before police dispersed the crowds. The violence resumed Tuesday night and rioters attacked police forces with “petrol bombs, bricks, golf balls, laser pens and lumps of concrete amid the worst rioting in the area for 10 years,” according to the Daily Telegraph.

Catholic and Protestant leaders have blamed the other side for provoking the violence.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011 at 9:40 am ET by Conor Risch and is filed under Current Affairs, Media, Newspapers, Photojournalism.