Empty houses, broken communities: One month on from the Ballymena riots

ITV News

8 hours ago

On Clonavon Terrace in Ballymena, empty house after empty house is now boarded up.
This street was at the heart of last month's week of disorder, which was aimed mainly against the Roma community who had moved into the town.
Foreign families were burned out of their homes, and their landlords were warned not to let them return.
It started with a protest by the community after an alleged sexual assault against a local teenage girl.
Two 14-year-old boys, who spoke in court through a Romanian interpreter, have since been charged with attempted rape which they both deny.
But the peaceful protest escalated into violence, which spread across a number of towns in Northern Ireland over a week of disorder.
Homes were set on fire, windows were smashed, and a number of police officers were injured.
There have been 41 arrests to date.
One of those is 18-year-old Michael Elliott.
He was arrested in Ballymena on Tuesday, June 10 and charged with rioting.
His mum, Carla, agreed to speak to ITV News while her son is being held on remand.
She says she is angry that her son's face has been used in the press along with the word 'racist'.
'He has been caught up and is being used as the scapegoat," she said.
She attended what she says was a peaceful protest with Michael and was shocked when it turned violent, but says she is not surprised that local people felt angry over immigration.
She says she has been warning people on her TikTok channel about problems in the town for years.
'We've got our own housing crisis. Our own people can't get houses. People are getting moved in and they get that house straight away," she said.
'What about our homeless?'
The judge remanded Michael into custody, along with others, warning that the violence had caused "great fear and trauma" across Northern Ireland.
He said there needed to be a strong message that if you are arrested and there is credible and reliable evidence, "you will be remanded into custody and ultimately face a lengthy custodial sentence".
Driving around Ballymena now, it is easy to see how the town has been visibly changed after the riots.
Many homes in the town centre have put up flags showing symbols of Britishness or signs highlighting that locals live inside to deter any further damage to their properties.
Military veteran Anita has lived here for almost 30 years and is one of those who feels compelled to display a flag in every window.
'It says that we are locals, we are British, and don't smash my windows.'
But Anita is not angry about the damage done to her street from the riot.
She says she is angry because she complained for seven years about the anti-social behaviour of her neighbours, who, she says, were Roma, but nobody listened, and instead she was called a racist.
She blames 'the authorities and the landlords… because they didn't listen.
'It (the rioting) was heavy-handed, and it was hard, but it did the job.
'They are gone, we've got our streets back.'
Ballymena local councillor, Rodney Quigley, told ITV News his community does not have a problem with racism or a rise of the far right.
He says what happened here was about one specific group.
'It was the Roma community and I make no bones about that.
'There has been issues with prostitution, issues with gangs of young fellas running around.
'People felt they were being called racist because they were concerned about what had been going on.'
He says it was not a race riot, it was an anti-Roma riot.
'It doesn't make me a racist calling that out because I would call it out in my own community.'
The local primary schools have lost 80 children almost overnight from the families that left this area.
One Romanian family who lives locally had their window smashed in, but told us that even though they are still being intimidated, they are not leaving, and this is their home.
Almost one month on, the streets have fallen quiet except for the sound of repairs.
What happened here has forced almost an entire Roma community to just disappear.
The violence has stopped, but the feelings of being overlooked and ignored have not gone away.