Police in Northern Ireland have admitted that it was inappropriate to play ice-cream van music in a bid to calm rioting youths on the edge of west Belfast last weekend.

An officer in a police vehicle under attack played the music in an attempt to defuse the violence on the same estate where IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands once lived.

Youths were throwing bottles at a Land Rover vehicle on the Twinbrook estate last Saturday when the officer used the tannoy to play the tunes.

The police said an officer had used humour to defuse the situation and the trouble had stopped. However, a senior officer has spoken to the officer involved.

Police were called to Glasvey Drive in Twinbrook on 22 May where they passed a group of about 15 youths who began throwing bottles at their vehicle.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said: "An officer used the vehicle's tannoy system to play music to the youths in an effort to use humour to defuse the situation.

"The youths stopped throwing the bottles. However, police accept that this was not an appropriate action.

"The officer has been spoken to by a senior officer in order to establish the circumstances of the incident."

A local Sinn Féin councillor, Angela Nelson, said the officer's actions "beggared belief".

"The PSNI are put on the streets to do a serious job and that is to keep order on the streets and face down antisocial elements. This is like a sick joke.

"It goes against everything we are trying to solve and eradicate in the area."

However, Basil McCrea, of the Northern Ireland Policing Board, said the police needed to be resourceful when engaging with the community. He said: "This officer showed initiative and should be commended".