Welfare concerns for three missing young boys as SA Police launch public appeal
Police have concerns for the welfare of three young children – aged just three, one and a three-month old baby – who have been missing for more than two weeks.
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ABC News
41 minutes ago
- ABC News
How riots erupted in Northern Ireland after an alleged sex assault
Violence erupted on the streets of the Northern Irish town of Balleymena for a second night in a row this week. WARNING: This story contains references to sexual assault. Masked rioters clashed with police and set homes and cars on fire in the town, with authorities condemning the scenes on Monday and Tuesday, local time, as "mindless violence". The violence was triggered by the alleged sexual assault of a young girl on Monday in the town, located not far from the Northern Ireland capital of Belfast. Authorities have pleaded for calm to allow police to investigate the crime, which has stoked tension in communities which have been divided by sectarian violence in the past. Here's what we know about the incident. The community of Ballymena was rocked after news that a teenage girl was allegedly sexually assaulted in the town on Saturday evening. Two 14-year-old boys appeared in court on Monday, charged with attacking her. The BBC reported that their charges were read out to them via a Romanian interpreter, and they later entered not guilty pleas. Following a peaceful march in support of the victim, a crowd of mostly young people set fire to several houses and pelted police with projectiles. After dark on Monday and Tuesday, masked rioters clashed with police in Ballymena. There were also reports of incidents in the towns of Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus, and in Belfast. Police said posts on social media were helping fuel what Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson called "racist thuggery." At least 32 police officers have been injured since the violence began, authorities say. Police in Northern Ireland sporadically come under attack whenever tensions rise in parts of the British region, 27 years after the Good Friday Agreement ended decades of violence. Five people were arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour on Tuesday, following one arrest there on Monday, police say. Officers in riot gear and driving armoured vans responded on Tuesday with water cannon and non-lethal rounds, known as attenuated energy projectiles, after being attacked by petrol bombs, scaffolding and rocks that rioters gathered by knocking down nearby walls, a Reuters witness said. Police are investigating after attacks on properties during the violence that saw four houses damaged by fire. They say the attacks could be racially-motivated "hate crimes". One Romanian resident told the Irish Times on Tuesday that she was putting a British flag on her front window in a bid to prevent being targeted. Another door had a British and Filipino flag with a message saying "Filipino lives here", a photograph in The Belfast Telegraph showed. Jim Allister, leader of the conservative party Traditional Unionist Voice, said "unchecked migration, which is beyond what the town can cope with, is a source of past and future tensions." Northern Ireland has a long history of street disorder stretching back to tensions between the British unionist and Irish nationalist communities. Though three decades of violence known as the Troubles largely ended after the 1998 peace accord, tensions remain between those — largely Protestants — who see themselves as British and Irish nationalists, who are mostly Catholic. In Belfast, "peace walls" still separate working-class Protestant and Catholic areas. Street protestors sometimes still clash with police when there are moments of tension. Separately, anti-immigrant violence erupted in Northern Ireland, as well as England, last year after three girls were stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the north-west England town of Southport. Authorities said online misinformation wrongly identifying the UK-born teenage attacker as a migrant played a part. Police condemned the latest violence and said they would call in officers from England and Wales to bolster their response if needed. All the parties in Northern Ireland's power-sharing government issued a joint statement appealing for calm and urging people to reject "the divisive agenda being pursued by a minority of destructive, bad faith actors." They also urged people to allow the justice process to "take its course so this heinous crime can be robustly investigated". ABC/Reuters/AP
News.com.au
8 hours ago
- News.com.au
Starmer condemns two nights of 'mindless' N.Irish violence
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer joined Northern Irish authorities on Wednesday in condemning what he called two nights of "mindless" violence targeting foreigners. The unrest that has injured 17 police officers has included rioters throwing petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks, while homes as well as businesses have been attacked. The violence was triggered by the arrest of two teenagers accused of attempting to rape a young girl. The pair appeared in court on Monday where they asked for a Romanian interpreter. "We strongly condemn the racially motivated violence witnessed in recent days and make an urgent appeal for calm across society," said ministers from every party in the UK province's power-sharing executive in a joint statement. Residents had been "terrorised" and police injured, they added, urging people to reject the "divisive agenda being pushed by a "destructive" minority. Starmer joined them in condemning "mindless attacks". Six people were arrested during the second night of riots in the town of Ballymena, around 48 kilometres (30 miles) northwest of Belfast, and other places. "Hate-fuelled acts and mob rule do nothing but tear at the fabric of our society -- they resolve nothing and serve no one," said Chief Constable Jon Boutcher. Police will not confirm the ethnicity of the two teenagers who remain in custody, but areas attacked on Monday included those where Romanian migrants live. Four houses were damaged by fire, while rioters smashed windows and doors of homes and businesses. "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. - 'Terrifying' scenes - Some of the 17 officers injured had required hospital treatment. Five people were arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour while a sixth was detained on suspicion of disorderly behaviour in Newtownabbey, 30 kilometres away, one of four other places including Belfast where protests erupted. Tensions in Ballymena, which has a large migrant population, remained high throughout the day on Tuesday. Residents described the scenes as "terrifying" and told AFP that those involved were targeting "foreigners". Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson on Tuesday denounced the violence as "racist thuggery" and said it had been "clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police". The unrest comes as immigration is increasingly a hot-button issue across the United Kingdom -- England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland -- and in the neighbouring Republic of Ireland. Some 20 percent of Ireland's 5.4-million population is now foreign-born. Official data showed a population increase fuelled by migration of around 100,000 in the year to April 2024 -- the largest since 2007. The last census in 2021 put the number of people in Northern Ireland who identified as Roma, a distinct ethnic group whose population is largely concentrated in eastern and central Europe, at around 1,500 or 0.1 percent of the population. The official figures do not indicate how many are longstanding residents or recent immigrants but the census put the number of Romanian-born people living in the province at 6,612. bur-har/jkb/jm
ABC News
9 hours ago
- ABC News
Queensland police conduct searches under Jack's Law
Jack's Law allows police to search people for weapons at relevant places including shopping centres and train stations.
