Third night of anti-immigrant violence hits Northern Ireland town

MTV Lebanon

2 days ago

Hundreds gathered on the streets of Ballymena in Northern Ireland Wednesday, facing police armed with riot shields and water cannon on the third night of anti-immigrant demonstrations.
The crowds eventually dispersed without a repeat of the chaotic scenes from the previous two nights, when houses and businesses were torched and 32 police officers were injured.
The protests erupted in the northern town after the arrest of two teenagers accused of attempting to rape a young girl. The pair appeared Monday in court, where they asked for a Romanian interpreter.
Police have not confirmed the ethnicity of the teenagers, who remain in custody, but areas attacked on Monday and Tuesday included neighbourhoods where Romanian migrants live.
Ministers from every party in the province's power-sharing executive strongly condemned "the racially motivated violence witnessed in recent days".
Residents had been "terrorised" and police injured, they said in Wednesday's joint statement, urging people to reject the "divisive" agenda being pushed by a "destructive" minority.
In response to what they termed "racist thuggery", police deployed riot officers with dogs and have asked forces in England and Wales for help quelling the unrest.
AFP journalists saw protestors throw fireworks, bricks and bottles, as well as toss two petrol bombs towards a line of armoured police cars. One road barrier was set alight, as crowds watched nearby.
On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the unrest in Ballymena "mindless violence".
Around 20 miles (32 kilometres) southeast of the town, masked men set a leisure centre in Larne on fire, local media reported. The centre was temporarily sheltering people from Ballymena who had been evacuated.
People living in Ballymena described "terrifying" scenes in which attackers had targeted "foreigners" over the previous days.
Some people fixed signs to their houses indicating they were Filipino residents, or hung up British flags.