A large Department for Infrastructure vehicle was in flames as demonstrators confronted the police after they gathered near the Sandyknowes roundabout in Newtownabbey to the north west of Belfast.
Footage showed dozens of men dressed all in black and wearing face coverings gathering on Antrim Road, where they could be seen tearing bricks from properties and smashing paving stones with sledgehammers to create projectiles to throw at riot police.
They could also be seen taking wheelie bins from outside homes and lighting fires in them.
Balaclava-clad rioters also broke open a metal fence to access the Sandyknowes Wastewater Pumping Station and removed a garden fence to use as a shield against the police water cannon.
Videos shared on social media showed protesters attempting to march to the Chimney Corner Hotel, with riot police and several vans being deployed to manage the demonstrations.
Rioters attempted to set fire to a property near a petrol station in the same area, with some throwing petrol bombs at police lines.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said officers deployed water cannons to maintain public order after missiles were thrown at police.
Earlier, the family of a man who lost an eye in a knife attack appealed for calm after the incident triggered a wave of anti-immigrant violence in Belfast.
The appeal came as a Sudanese man appeared in court charged with attempted murder and as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and politicians in Northern Ireland condemned the violence by "masked thugs" that had targeted ethnic minorities.
Hundreds of protesters, many with their faces covered, had attacked police and burned vehicles in a number of locations across Northern Ireland late on Tuesday after a video of the knife attack went viral.
"We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward," the family of the victim, Stephen Ogilvie, said in a statement.
"We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country ... We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility," it said.
Speaking in parliament, Starmer said the attack raised serious questions but that "driving people out of their homes is not ... the right way to respond," adding that all those involved in violence would face "the full force of the law".
The suspect in the attack in north Belfast, a 30-year-old Sudanese man named as Hadi Alodid, appeared in court where he was remanded in custody.
Alodid was charged with the attempted murder of Ogilvie, with threats to kill a radiographer and with possession of a knife.
Alodid, who appeared in court via video link, made no reply to the charges when they were put to him through an Arabic interpreter.
The court heard Alodid said "I've killed someone, I don't know if they are dead" while in hospital receiving treatment for a hand injury and told medical staff "I will kill you".
Ogilvie, who is in his 40s, suffered significant injuries to his face and back, the court heard.
He remains in a serious condition in hospital in Belfast and is understood to be in an induced coma.
Videos of the attack had circulated online, sparking calls on social media for violent protest.
Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill described the violence perpetrated by the masked men as "nothing less than disgusting cowardice".
The attack, which is currently not being treated as terrorism, comes at a time of heightened tensions in the United Kingdom following the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh man, falsely alleged a racist attack.
with PA
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