Police said the disorder broke out shortly before 20:00 BST on Tuesday evening, leaving roads blocked with burning barricades. Order was restored at around 01:00 on Wednesday
Petrol bombs, projectiles and fireworks were thrown at police on Tuesday night, in a second night of serious disorder in Ballymena, County Antrim. Police fired baton rounds and used a water cannon to disperse protesters, who set at least one car on fire and smashed the windows of several houses, with officers also bringing riot dogs to the scene.
Crowds gathered in the Clonavon Terrace area, which is where violent disorder, described by police as “racially motivated”, also broke out on Monday night. Police said the disorder broke out shortly before 20:00 BST on Tuesday evening, leaving roads blocked with burning barricades. Order was restored at around 01:00 on Wednesday.
Police added that they also dealt with sporadic incidents of disorder in Newtonabbey, Carrickfergus and north Belfast. In Ballymena, riot officers from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) issued warnings over loud speaker for the crowds to disperse before firing impact rounds and a water cannon.
Police said a number of homes and businesses were attacked. Two homes were set on fire as crowds were dispersed into other areas of the town. Other properties had windows smashed and some people put signs up displaying the nationalities of those inside – for example one saying “British household” and another with “Filipino lives here”. Monday’s violence broke out following an earlier peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault in the town. Petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown at police, and six homes attacked with four of them damaged by fire.
One assembly member, Sian Mulholland, told the Northern Ireland Assembly that a family with three young children had to “barricade themselves into their attic”. A number of businesses were also damaged, with windows and doors smashed. A 29-year-old man has been charged with riotous behaviour, disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police. Police urged anyone involved in the unrest “to reflect long and hard about their actions”, and indicated some people on Monday night were “clearly intent on violence”.
The prime minister’s official spokesman described the events in Ballymena as “very concerning”. Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said there was “no justification” for “the terrible scenes of civil disorder we have witnessed in Ballymena again this evening”.The MP for North Antrim, Jim Allister, also posted on his social media: “Tonight’s further senseless violence in Ballymena is helping no cause, just destroying our own town and getting young men criminal records. Stop it.” Earlier on Monday, two teenage boys appeared before Coleraine Magistrates’ Court accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Ballymena. They spoke through an interpreter in Romanian to confirm their names and ages. Their solicitor said they would be denying the charges.
A third man was arrested on Monday night in connection with the sexual assault but was unconditionally released. Earlier on Tuesday, MP Allister, the MP rejected criticism from a fellow Northern Ireland MP that his condemnation of Monday’s violence was “insincere” and “weaselly”.
He said he “utterly repudiated” the comments by Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader Claire Hanna. The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader said the violence was wrong and unwarranted, but also said the “oversubscription of migrants” in that part of the town had led to tensions.
Allister said his primary thoughts were with all who suffered in the violence but also the 14-year-girl who was the alleged victim of the sexual assault, and for whom “thousands gathered last night to show empathy”. “My fear was, and it turned out to be true, that that vital demonstration of opposition to violence against women would be overwhelmed by a resort to violence by those who had other ideas and other agendas, and sadly that’s what happened.”
He added that the underlying tensions had been “there for a long time in this particular part of Ballymena” because there was “an oversubscription of migrants who had been placed there”, causing “tensions to rise to the surface”. “In that sense, it was unsurprising but utterly unacceptable that there should be any resort to violence.”
When asked about what evidence he was drawing on, Allister said the last time he canvassed a street in the area with 50 houses, he came “upon five local, if I can call them that, residents of Ballymena”. He added: “If you find a street where only five of fifty houses are occupied by local people, then I think there is an imbalance which is storing up trouble.”
Allister said that while some work and integrate, “many of them sadly have not integrated and have sought to pursue a lifestyle which is not compatible, in many ways, with what is expected in a town community such as Ballymena”.
