A rift between Northern Ireland's First Minister and the

PSNI Chief Constable over serious rioting in the wake of the

Twelfth has been denied.

Stormont talks have been held between Peter Robinson, Matt

Baggott and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness after

three nights of clashes between police and rioters.

More than 80 officers have been injured.

The power-sharing DUP and Sinn Fein leaders have already

been singled out by Assistant Chief Constable Alistair

Finlay, when he called into question whether politicians had

done enough to prevent such violence during the marching season.

His remarks were branded "unhelpful and unacceptable" by Mr

Robinson.

Now, he and the Chief Constable insisted they were

fully supportive of each other's efforts.

"We have nothing but the highest admiration for the way the

police have coped with the most difficult of circumstances

over the last couple of days and we again call on our whole

community to stand beside the police at this time and every

time," said Mr Robinson.

Flanked by the First and Deputy First Ministers outside

Stormont Castle, Mr Baggott added: "I have never had a rift

with my colleagues standing to the left and right of me

here.  We are absolutely determined that we will make

progress and do the right things."

There has been criticism of the police response to the

rioting, given the lack of arrests during disturbances on

the Eleventh and Twelfth nights and on the following night.

But the tactics adopted have been defended by Justice

Minister David Ford.

He said the police are "talking about investigating video

coverage of what happened", but added that "we have to

accept the reality of the situation the police were in".