BELFAST, Northern Ireland?Rival groups of Catholics and Protestants pelted each other with homemade grenades Sunday in Belfast, and one man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound, police and residents said.

Police in full riot gear had to drive more than 100 Catholics and 50 Protestants apart during the confrontation in the Limestone Road area of north Belfast?a sectarian front line plagued by rioting in recent months.

Residents said shots were fired throughout the area, and homemade grenades were thrown. An army bomb disposal team defused an unexploded homemade grenade after the unrest.

A man who was struck by a bullet underwent surgery for what was believed to be a chest wound, police said. His condition was not immediately known, and his name was not released.