31 arrested over NI race riots as police warn investigations won't ‘lose momentum'
The violence in Ballymena last week, which then spread to other areas of Northern Ireland, was sparked following an alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl in the Clonavon Terrace area.
The two 14-year-old boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were charged with attempted rape at Coleraine Magistrates Court. They spoke through a Romanian interpreter.
Police said from those arrested there have been 23 people charged in connection with the disorder.
Among those, a 25-year-old man has been charged with perverting the course of justice in relation to the Larne Leisure Centre arson.
He is due before Ballymena Magistrates' Court today.
Two men have also been charged in relation to disorder in Portadown on Thursday 12th June.
A 37-year-old man was charged with two counts of riot and appeared at Lisburn Magistrates' Court on Monday and a 32-year-old man was charged with one count of riot and is to appear at Craigavon Magistrates' Court today.
While things have been quieter across the country over recent days, police did highlight disorder in the Nailors Row area of Londonderry last night, from around 9.30pm to midnight.
The PSNI said three officers were injured, with two officers struck by masonry and one officer was struck by a firework.
A PSNI spokesperson said an 18-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour and bailed to allow further enquiries to be conducted.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said: 'Recent days have been calmer. However, this does not mean our investigations into those responsible for the racially-motivated attacks will lose momentum. We are continuing to review our evidence gathered over the days of disorder and are robustly investigating the disorder. We will be making more arrests and delivering justice to those responsible for these racially-motivated attacks and associated posts on social media.
'Our heightened presence in towns and cities and engagement will continue as we work to keep people safe.
'Everyone deserves to feel safe on our streets. So, just as we will seek justice for women and girls who report heinous crimes to us, we will also seek justice for local innocent families who are being targeted by criminality fuelled by hate.
'We will continue to robustly investigate the disorder over the last number of days but do not want to see any more young people criminalised by being caught up in this activity.'
A number of images have been released of individuals police want to identify and speak to in connection with the ongoing investigation.
'If you are able to identify any of the people shown in these images or can provide information about them you should contact us on 101 or on our major incident portal, which is accessible on our website.'
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