At least 17 police have been injured and five arrests made in second night of ‘racially motivated’ disorder in Ballymena.
Hundreds of masked rioters have attacked police and set homes and cars on fire in Northern Ireland’s Ballymena in the second night of disorder described by police as “racially motivated” following a protest over an alleged sexual assault in the town.
Police said on Wednesday that they had arrested five people “on suspicion of riotous behaviour” and that 17 officers had been injured, “with some requiring hospital treatment”, in the previous night’s violence in the town, located about 45km (30 miles) from the capital, Belfast.
“In a second night of rioting and disorder, mainly in the Clonavon Terrace area of Ballymena, police officers came under sustained attack over a number of hours with multiple petrol bombs, heavy masonry, bricks and fireworks in their direction,” the Police Service of Northern Ireland said in a statement.
Riot police were deployed, firing plastic baton rounds, and using water cannon and dog units as part of their response to the disorder.
One house was burned out and rioters attempted to set a second home alight, according to reports, while several cars were set on fire.
The Belfast Telegraph newspaper said that some residents in Ballymena have started to mark their front doors to indicate their nationality to avoid attack, while Irish media outlets report that a call has gone out for protests to be held in other towns and cities in Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom.
During earlier violence on Monday, four houses were damaged by fire and windows and doors were smashed in other homes and businesses, in what police said they are investigating as racially motivated hate attacks.
In a joint statement, ministers from across Northern Ireland’s powersharing Executive – which includes Sinn Fein, the Democratic Unionist Party, the Alliance Party and the Ulster Unionist Party – said those involved in rioting have nothing to offer society but “division and disorder”.
“The terrible scenes of civil disorder we have witnessed in Ballymena again this evening have no place in Northern Ireland,” the UK’s Northern Ireland minister, Hilary Benn, said in a post on social media.
“There is absolutely no justification for attacks on PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] officers or for vandalism directed at people’s homes or property,” he said.
Unrest first erupted on Monday night after a peaceful vigil in a neighbourhood of Ballymena where an alleged sexual assault occurred on Saturday. The trouble began when people in masks “broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties”, police said.
Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attempted rape of a teenage girl, had appeared in court earlier in the day, where they had asked for a Romanian interpreter, local media reports said.
Tensions in the town, which has a large migrant population, remained high throughout Tuesday, with residents describing the scenes as “terrifying” and telling reporters that those involved were targeting “foreigners”.
“This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,” Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was investigating “hate attacks” on homes and businesses and that 15 officers were injured in the rioting on Monday, including some who required hospital treatment.
Cornelia Albu, 52, a Romanian migrant and mother of two who lives opposite a house targeted in the attacks, said her family has been “very scared”.
“Last night, it was crazy, because too many people came here and tried to put the house on fire,” Albu, who works in a factory, told the AFP news agency.
She said she would now have to move, but was worried she would not find another place to live because she was Romanian.
Source:
Al Jazeera and news agencies