The PSNI says Wednesday night's violence in west Belfast was on a scale not seen in Northern Ireland "for a number of years".

Police were attacked for several hours, petrol bombs were thrown and a bus was burnt.

Eight officers were injured at an interface, while more than fifty have been hurt in disorder over recent days.

Jonathan Roberts says "we are very, very lucky no-one was seriously injured or killed last night".

He said this was in particular due to the "large number of petrol bombs thrown".

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Conservative MP Simon Hoare, who is chair of Northern Ireland Affairs Committee, tells Talkback "too many people in Westminster steer clear of Northern Ireland for fear of wading into a row".

He says the issue of Northern Ireland was "always going to be the most difficult thing in delivering Brexit as far as the island of Ireland is concerned".

"A lot of people do feel cheated, they feel misled and they feel let down and that’s an understandable response."

Image source, Pacemaker

He added that in dealing with NI politics, "looking backward has always been the main problem but we must analyse what's going on and better prepare for the future instead of raking over the coals of the past".

"I would like to see ongoing dialogue between the executive and the PSNI and all-party talks about how do we get the train of peace and prosperity pulled by the engine of the Good Friday Agreement, how do we get that back on track."

Image source, Pacemaker

...it's been a busy day of news, following last night's violence in Belfast - the sixth night of disorder in a row.

Here's what's been happening:

• The Stormont Executive says it is united behind law and order and calls for peace on the streets in a statement released this morning
• MLAs unanimously condemned the recent violence in an emergency sitting after being recalled from Easter recess
• PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Jonathan Roberts says up to 55 officers have been injured over the past six nights and that the violence encountered at the Lanark Way interface last night involved "a level of pre-planning"

• Bus drivers have gathered in protest at Belfast City Hall after a bus was hijacked during Wednesday's disorder
• Northern Ireland's Secretary of State Brandon Lewis will fly in this afternoon for emergency talks with Stormont's main parties

BBC Talkback is continuing its lengthy discussion on the violence flaring in Northern Ireland, with former Secretary of State Peter Hain telling the programme that the prime minister must take responsibility for "neglecting" Northern Ireland.

Lord Hain tells Talkback there has been "bad leadership" of Northern Ireland from Number 10 to local political parties.

He says politicians had been dishonest about the consequences of Brexit for Northern Ireland.

Asked if Boris Johnson has some responsibility for the recent violence, he says: "Where he should accept responsibility is first of all not being honest with the unionist communities.

"And secondly he must take responsibility for neglecting Northern Ireland.

"Where did Northern Ireland ever fit in getting Brexit done? It didn't."

Image source, PA Media

He added: "Unionists have felt they were sold a pup and they were not told straight."

He singles out the DUP for not being upfront about the consequences of Brexit, adding: "The real problem is the prime minister simply did not tell the truth.

"I think honesty in politics is always the best policy and that wasn’t the case and still isn’t the policy."

Speaking to Talkback, SDLP member Paul Doherty says young people involved in the violence need "direction, they need guidance and they need to see leadership where it matters."

"These dark days are should be well and truly behind us, we've come so far in this place and there should be no turning back now," he says.

Mr Doherty was in west Belfast last night when the violence started, where he said he tried to "talk to many and pleaded with them to stop and warned of consequences of their actions."

Image source, Pacemaker

"Some listened but the vast majority were intent on creating carnage," he says.

"The depressing scenes yesterday are something we don’t want to see again.

"A lot of the rhetoric in recent weeks hasn't helped matters and at this stage, we need to work to calm the situation down to work through challenges and find solutions as quickly as possible."

Sinn Féin councillor Claire Canavan tells Talkback on BBC Radio Ulster that residents near Lanark Way were terrified by the violence last night.

"The scenes I saw last night I thought would never see again," she said.

"Family members contacted me with elderly residents in the area and we had to call with them to calm them down, people were really terrified and anxious."

Image source, Pacemaker

She said the attacks had been "planned in advance and orchestrated by loyalist criminal gangs".

"Those behind these despicable attacks need to call a halt to them but we also need our political leaders to take a stand to deescalate the situation to bring this campaign of madness and destruction to an end."

The Irish and British governments should treat recent violence in Northern Ireland as a political crisis, says a former PUP councillor.

Julie-Anne Corr-Johnston tells Talkback that the Northern Ireland Protocol has "changed the dynamics" and NI's relationship with Great Britain.

"There is a very strong sense that both the Irish and British governments have contravened the standards that they set out in the Good Friday Agreement," she says.

"Quite simply these honey-coated words of condemnations and statements calling for calm are futile.

"We need the British and the Irish governments - the custodians of the Good Friday Agreement - to treat this as the political crisis that it is."

Today’s motion condemning violence and calling for calm is put to assembly members in the chamber.

It passes unanimously on oral vote.

The Speaker Alex Maskey then adjourns the extraordinary meeting.

Image source, NI Assembly

That concludes live coverage of the Northern Ireland Assembly, but stay with us for further updates on this developing situation.

Alliance MLA for Strangford, Kellie Armstrong, says she watched a videoof two women on Wednesday night, working and living in the same area of Belfast: "One stood at the side of the road clapping, while a group of people wearing masks ran down the road.

"The other was a health worker trying to get a car out before a burning bus blocked her in."

She asks: "Why have we come to this? Why have we two people who live and work in the same area with such different attitudes?

She says it comes back to a failure in "delivering a shared society".

"It hasn't worked because I don't believe this place is committed to it," she says, and appeals for all parties to condemn the violence.

"We need to use language not to heighten tension but to encourage our community to come together."

Image source, NI Assembly

Trevor Clarke of the DUP says he has heard from police officers who “also have the perception that their job is a two-tier police force”.

The member of the policing board says “what I really deplore is seeing our people, people I grew up with, getting themselves criminal records for no reason”.

“There is a list of things we could pin-point as reasons,” he says, adding “we must go back and look at everyone of those issues and look at them with an open mind to bring as many people as possible with us”.

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political editor

There were two priorities for the executive meeting earier this morning.

Essentially they were meeting today to hear from the chief constable who briefed them on exactly what happened last night, in terms of injuries to police offers and also how the PSNI responded to what had happened.

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I think today's meeting was also about setting the tone for the debate in the assembly chamber.

Just to make sure that the executive was speaking with one voice and the hope then that would flow into the assembly chamber to ensure there wasn't going to be any great division on display.

They know a lot of people are looking in.

DUP MLA for East Belfast, Joanne Bunting, says she is not condoning violent behaviour, but those who were involved in it this week "have watched the law blatantly broken by those who wrote it, without consequence".

She says the "political elite in Sinn Féin, who adopt a 'do as we say, not as we do' attitude... appear to be above the law".

The policing board member says the Bobby Storey funeral "was the benchmark by which the policing of all other restrictions are compared".

Ms Bunting says she has spoken about "two-tier policing" since 2016, but "until recently, I was dismissed like a child, because the police didn't believe I was right".

Elizabeth Clarke, who lives in the Shankill Road area, tells Talkback on BBC Radio Ulster that the night became "nastier and nastier as the night went on".

She says she was in Lanark Way, which "started off as a peaceful protest".

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"None of us wanted to see this, but the blame here lies with Stormont and the chief constable," she claims.

Ms Clarke says people in loyalist areas are "so frustrated" and believes "nobody is listening on the ground to the voters".

Image source, NI Assembly

"The violence needs to stop and it needs to stop now,” says Gerry Kelly.

The Sinn Féin MLA says “last night there was mayhem” at Lanark Way interface.

“These are crime gangs who are orchestrating violence for their own ends,” adds the North Belfast representative.

“By bringing people onto the street this is going to escalate,” says the MLA, and calls for those organising the protests to stop.

Image source, NI Assembly

Mike Nesbitt of the Ulster Unionist Party says “nothing excuses the violence,” but adds that there is a need to explore why violence is occurring.

“Can we stop calling them paramilitary groups please?” he asks.

“That might describe how they’re organised but it doesn’t describe their intent. Their intent is to terrorise people."

Dozens of bus drivers are protesting at Belfast City Hall after a bus was hijacked and set on fire on the Shankill Road in west Belfast.

Their union says it is monitoring the situation and will seek a bus curfew in areas where trouble breaks out.

There was also a round of applause for their colleague.

SDLP MLA for Foyle, Sinead McLaughlin, says the political tension between the DUP and Sinn Féin is "palpable" and that there is "rarely a meeting of minds" between the two parties.

"Their dirty linen tends to be washed in public," she adds.

She says her party "hears and deeply regrets the feelings and sense of abandonment acutely felt within the unionist community - as a nationalist I truly understand this".

She says the first and deputy first minister should "reflect very carefully on the role they each have played".

"The outworking of political ineptitude creates a space for violence on our streets," Ms McLaughlin adds.

Image source, NI Assembly

Deirdre Hargey, the communities minister, says she’s “deeply concerned” that protests are being organised at interface areas.

“My experience tells me that those who organise protests on or near interface areas are not intent on peaceful protest,” the Sinn Féin MLA says, adding it is a “deliberate attempt to stoke up violence and sectarianism, and that’s what we saw last night."