Sinn Fein has been accused of exploiting problems at interface areas of Belfast where sectarian tensions have erupted into violence in recent months.

David Ervine, the leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, said there had been violence on both sides, but said republicans needed to do more to ease tensions.

Trouble erupted at an interface area of north Belfast on Friday afternoon with several hundred people involved in disturbances in the Ardoyne Road and Alliance Avenue areas.

The police also investigated reports of shots being fired.

David Ervine: Sinn Fein "must do more"

It followed a night of trouble in the east of the city with a fresh outbreak of rioting in the Short Strand area which, the police said, left 13 officers injured.

Mr Ervine - whose party has close links with the Ulster Volunteer Force - accused Sinn Fein of trying to "propagandise" the situation.

But he told BBC Radio Ulster's Inside Politics programme on Saturday that was "not dealing with the issue".

"I want to deal with the issue. I want calm at the interfaces for the sake of the people who live there, whether they are Protestant or Catholic," he said.

Leadership

The Lord Mayor of Belfast, Sinn Fein's Alex Maskey, suggested to Mr Ervine that unionist and Sinn Fein politicians go to flashpoint areas together.

Speaking on the same programme, he said it would be a "method of reconciliation and working together".

"Let's say this is a difficult period we are going through - the fact that people are being killed, the fact that people are being continually put out of their homes, people's houses are wrecked in both sides of the community.

"Do those people not deserve better leadership from us?"

Alex Maskey: Wants politicians to go to flashpoint areas together

In a separate development, the police have rejected criticism of their handling of recent street disturbances in east Belfast.

In a statement on Saturday, Deputy Assistant Chief Constable for the city Brian McCargo said he was dismayed at allegations that police have a "partisan approach to dealing with street disorder".

He also appealed to both communities to end the trouble and said if it continued lives would be lost.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Reg Empey is seeking a meeting with the Northern Ireland security minister following the latest violence in east Belfast.

The Ulster Unionist assembly member said he wanted a review of police tactics in the Short Strand area.

He also wants the security forces to maintain a 24 hour presence in the area, similar to that in nearby Cluan Place.

East Belfast Democratic Unionist MP Peter Robinson has also urged a permanent police presence in the Short Strand.

Sinn Fein said it intended to ask the Police Ombudsman to investigate the police handling of the violence in the area.

The volatile area has seen loyalists in Cluan Place and nationalists in the Short Strand targeting each other for months.

Tensions at the flashpoint interface have run high throughout the summer and serious rioting in June led to a call from unionist politicians for the government to review all paramilitary ceasefires.