Fifteen police officers were hurt in violence which flared in Northern Ireland overnight when 1,000 protesters rioted after councillors voted not to fly the British flag all year round, police said Tuesday. Two security workers and a press photographer were also injured Monday night as officers were pelted with bricks, bottles and fireworks and demonstrators tried to force their way into City Hall in Belfast.

Trouble broke out minutes after Belfast city councillors voted to remove the Union Flag from City Hall, meaning it will be taken down for the first time since the building opened in 1906. Nationalists opposed to Northern Ireland being part of the United Kingdom wanted the flag taken down permanently, but in a compromise it will now be flown only on 17 designated days. At one point, Loyalists with scarves tied around their heads to conceal their identity tried to kick down the back door of City Hall to gain entry.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012