At least 200 police officers from the British mainland arrived in Northern Ireland on Thursday as violent protests continued.

Police Scotland was expected to send around 90 officers, including five inspectors, under a mutual aid agreement with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Officers have also been sent from the North West and North East of England, according to a police source, however forces declined to say for operational reasons whether they were participating.

Belfast was braced for more disruption on Thursday night, as businesses closed and trains and buses stopped from 6pm.

It comes after a second night of violence on Wednesday in which the PSNI used water cannons – banned in England, Wales and Scotland – to disperse around 300 masked protesters in Glengormley, eight miles north of Belfast.

It is believed the group was targeting a hotel said to be housing migrants. A 'hit list' of properties thought to contain migrants had been in circulation for months and was reportedly known to the PSNI.

The force also fired 20 plastic bullets as mobs targeted homes and officers, throwing rocks, petrol bombs and other missiles in Belfast, Glengormley and 24 miles south-west in Portadown.

Police reported 16 arrests, while 12 officers were injured.

In a sickening scene, an NHS nurse from an ethnic minority was chased by four masked men while on her way to work at Ulster Hospital, East Belfast, in a reported 'racist attack'.

The violence was sparked by a knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie on Monday night. Video footage showed a man pinned to the floor as an assailant hacked at his head.

Mr Ogilvie, who is in his 40s and said to live in the same block of north Belfast flats as his alleged assailant, lost an eye and remains in a medically induced coma.

On Thursday, DUP leader and MP for Belfast East Gavin Robinson said his condition is 'improving'. His family has called for calm.

Hadi Alodid, who is from Sudan and arrived in Belfast in 2023, has been charged with attempted murder.

On Thursday, the Daily Mail revealed he was granted asylum under a fast-track scheme, by completing a Home Office questionnaire rather than by interview.

Meanwhile the nurse 'bravely insisted on remaining in the Ulster Hospital to care for the most vulnerable', the South Eastern Trust said. Adding: 'In stark contrast to the people who terrified her.'

Mobile phone footage showed dozens of men dressed in black and wearing face coverings, some in red, white and blue balaclavas, gathering on Antrim Road, north of the city, and tearing bricks from homes to create projectiles.

In Portadown, a rioter attempting to throw a petrol bomb set himself on fire.

At a press conference on Thursday, PSNI assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson said: 'Everyone with influence needs to do all in their power to get thugs off our streets.'

Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn said of the violence: 'That is racist thuggery, there's no question about it at all.'

Liam Kelly of the Police Federation for Northern Ireland told the Daily Mail that support of officers from the UK was 'a necessity'.

He said that 'due to significant underfunding' the PSNI was 700 officers below target and could not deal with 'protracted events'.

He said: 'We have witnessed scenes that are disgraceful, reminiscent of fascism and racism'.