BALLYMENA: Northern Irish police said Tuesday that 15 officers were injured in clashes after “racially motivated” attacks sparked by the arrest of two teenagers for the attempted rape of a young girl.
The unrest in the town of Ballymena, some 30 miles (48 kilometres) northwest of Belfast, erupted Monday night after a vigil in a neighbourhood where an alleged serious sexual assault happened on Saturday.
“This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,“ Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said.
Tensions in the town, which has a large migrant population, remained high on Tuesday, as residents described the scenes as “terrifying” and told AFP those involved were targeting “foreigners”.
Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attempted rape of a teenage girl, had appeared in court Monday, where they asked for a Romanian interpreter, local media reports said.
The trouble began when masked people “broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties,“ the police said.
Houses and businesses were attacked and three people had to be evacuated, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said, adding it was investigating “hate attacks”.
Security forces also came under “sustained attack”, police said, with petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks thrown by rioters, injuring 15 officers including some who required hospital treatment.
One 29-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of riotous and disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police.
‘
Terrifying’
Four houses were damaged by fire, and windows and doors of homes and businesses smashed.
Cornelia Albu, 52, a Romanian migrant and mother-of-two who lives opposite a house targeted in the attacks said her family had 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 AFP.
“My family was very scared,“ she said, adding she would have to move now.
However, she was unsure “if someone gives us a house because we are Romanian.
A 22-year-old woman who lives next door to a burnt out house in the same Clonavon neighbourhood said the night was “terrifying”.
“People were going after foreigners, whoever they were, or how innocent they were,“ she said.
“But there were local people indoors down the street scared as hell,“ the woman, who did not want to share her name for security reasons, told AFP.
Northern Ireland saw racism-fuelled disorder in August after similar riots in English towns and cities.
According to Mark, 24, who did not share his last name, the alleged rape on the weekend was “just a spark”.
“The foreigners around here don’t show respect to the locals, they come here, don’t integrate,“ said Mark.
“We are actively working to identify those responsible and bring them to justice,“ said Henderson, adding a “significant policing presence” would remain in place.
“We are very aware about the rising level of race hate attacks within Northern Ireland,“ he told a press conference on Tuesday.
Footage on social media appeared to show protesters targeting houses by smashing windows and some masked individuals kicking in doors and windows.
A spokesman for UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “the disorder we saw in Ballymena is very concerning.
“Obviously, the reports of sexual assault in the area are extremely distressing, but there is no justification for attacks on police officers,“ Downing Street added.
