‘Locals live here' read signs outside the houses of this UK town engulfed by anti-immigrant protests
A series of anti-immigration protests took place in the Northern Ireland town of Ballymena after sexual assault of a teenage girl on June 7. A BBC report on Monday stated that 64 police officers were injured in these riots which started last Monday and so far 29 people have been arrested.
It all had commenced early last week after the arrest of two 14-year-olds who were presented in the court and charged with the crime of sexual assault. However, the boys -- via a Romanian interpreter -- denied those charges.
Later, the victim's father called for peaceful protests and his calls got an impetus online. Before anyone knew it, the protests took anti-immigration slant and erupted into riots and clashes with police, reported Sky News.
Reuters reported that rioters attacked police with rocks, petrol bombs and fireworks in the town of Portadown, located 42.7 miles south of Ballymena.
Ballymena is a small town of about 31,000 people and located around 45 km from Belfast. It is here that hundreds of masked rioters attacked cops and set cars and buildings on fire. The police responded with water cannon, wrote Aljazeera.
What appeared to be a symbol of units of locals is that several residents placed UK flags or signs in their windows which read 'Locals live here' to avoid being attacked.
There are other reasons for Ballymena to be the epicentre of anti-immigration protests. One of the foremost reasons is that there has been rapid demographic change in the town in the past 14 years. This town has seen maximum increase in the number of people who don't not speak English/Irish as their first language. Some locals have put up such signs outside their houses
The anti-immigrant sentiment incidentally is not directed at Indians but at the citizens of east European countries. Most foreigners in Ballymena have come from East European countries such as Romania, Bulgaria, Poland and Slovakia.
Quoting 2021 Census, Sky News reported that three in 10 residents of Central Ballymena have a main language that is neither English or Irish.
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