By 11.45pm, the first cars were being torched at the top end of Smithdown Road. Rioters then  moved down Upper Parliament Street, where minutes earlier three yellow police vans had been  parked, and turned down towards Falkner Square starting fires as they went.

Eyewitnesses reported that the mob appeared to be moving at will with minimal, if any  opposition from police.

The air around Upper Parliament Street and Smithdown Road was acrid with the smoke of  burning vehicles.

Chaos ruled as passing motorists made emergency U-turns in a bid to avoid the trouble.

One eyewitness said: “After trashing Lodge Lane, the mob moved on to Smithdown Road,  where they smashed up a lot of bus stops and set them on fire.

“It looks like they have tipped a lot of rubbish from wheelie bins into the middle of the road and   torched it.

“They went up Upper Parliament Street where they smashed up a bus stop and torched a  mini-bus. They are setting fire to anything they can drag into the road.

“It looks like they’re heading towards town. There is nowhere near enough police. Some residents came out and tried to stop them but they were just ignored.”

Eyewitnesses said they saw dozens of cars smashed up and some set alight in Grove Street,   and a mob surrounding a fire crew as they tried to tackle a burning car in Myrtle Parade.