It is essential that the trouble which flared near Ardoyne on Monday night is not a precursor to a long, violent summer in north Belfast.
After periods of extreme difficulty, this area had been relatively calm in recent months.
And with calls from all sides for peace to prevail at flashpoint areas in the coming weeks, there have been reasonable grounds to hope that this marching season could be much quieter than previous years.
However, the disturbances which took place on Monday will cause many people to wonder if parts of north Belfast are to slide into the familiar depressing pattern of nightly sectarian clashes throughout the summer months.
This must not be allowed to happen, because it creates fear, tension and instability and because the vast majority of people who live in the affected areas have had enough such misery inflicted on them.
The trouble appears to have broken out after a Holy Cross primary school minibus was stoned.
Later two Protestant men were attacked at the corner of Twaddell Avenue and this was followed by the throwing of petrol bombs from the loyalist Glenbryn area.
While these incidents are worrying, there are signs that community leaders on both sides are trying to prevent small scale trouble escalating into major clashes.
It is vital that people with influence within certain areas, who are on the ground and aware of increasing tensions, ensure that troublemakers are deterred from creating havoc
The new lord mayor, the SDLP's Martin Morgan, is aware of the problems facing people in north Belfast but has also pointed to the continuing efforts to improve community relations in the area.
If politicians and community representatives show cooperation, leadership and determi-nation, it should be possible to clamp down on relatively minor trouble before it gets out of control.
