‘Where are the foreigners?' How tinderbox Northern Ireland exploded into riots

Sydney Morning Herald

16 hours ago

He added: 'In Clonavon Terrace, they stand around, there is mess everywhere, throwing bikes, there are piles of garbage and rumours of petty thefts and adults snatching kids' phones.'
He showed CCTV footage of a black metal bar stool coming through the front window of the terraced property he and his girlfriend, Pavlina, 35, an agency worker from the Czech Republic, share with their 11-year-old daughter and two Jack Russells.
The stool, hurled by masked youths, was followed by a heavy tree planter hours after they had been warned by police to leave or stay in the living room, making it easier to escape if the house was torched.
'It was not random, the way they operate,' he added. 'They roughly know where people are from.
'It's not racist because it's not about skin colour, but discriminatory, yes. It is very obvious they are trying to hound people out of the area, and they are being quite successful.'
The violence began on Monday following a vigil in support of the girl who had been assaulted, which was followed by disorder echoing the riots in the UK seen after the Southport murders, where children were attacked at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year.
It started in Clonavon Terrace, where the alleged assault took place, with homes torched and cars set alight as rioters clashed with police armed with protective gear and attempting to restore calm with their armoured Land Rovers.
Three people had to be saved by firefighters after four houses were set alight.
On Tuesday, the violence moved elsewhere in the County Antrim town, which is home to 31,205 residents, as rioters targeted houses where they believed foreigners lived.
Officers were met with a hail of petrol bombs, bricks and fireworks and were forced to fire baton rounds and bring in water cannons and dogs as cars were again set on fire in scenes described by police as 'racist thuggery'.
The violence continued on Wednesday night as well, and spread to other parts of Northern Ireland, despite Northern Ireland's police chief vowing to arrest and prosecute the 'bigots and racists' behind the violence.
A total of 41 officers have been injured and 15 people arrested since the violence began four nights ago.
Earlier this week, the Police Service of Northern Ireland requested support from colleagues in the rest of the UK as it brought in extra officers and equipment to the areas where unrest had erupted.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he 'utterly condemns' the violence, while Jon Boutcher, the PSNI's chief constable, warned the disorder risked undermining the criminal justice process.
Ballymena was 95.1 per cent white at the time of the latest census, with just 4.9 per cent of the population from another ethnic background, with Roma the largest minority.
Although far less diverse than the rest of the UK, Ballymena's population has changed significantly over the last decade, when previously just one in 50 residents was from a non-white background.
Unemployment is above average, and there are long-standing tensions with the Roma community, which is accused by some of failing to integrate into the town.
On Clonavon Terrace, people from around the town visited, curious to see the damage, while those actually living on the street feared that years of tensions between largely loyalist Protestant communities and some Roma residents would result in their homes being targeted.
Andrei Boteanu, 32, a factory worker who is Romanian but not Roma, pointed at the remains of a redbrick house where the arrested teenagers are believed to have lived.
'They threw the bins inside; it took all night to burn,' he said.
Boteanu feared they would do the same to his own house, but added that he was not surprised tensions had turned violent.
'Before, there were many cars coming there, there were 20 people inside. There were rats, garbage, and mattresses lying around. It was messy, they were all on benefits.
'We always complain about them, but nobody does anything. We didn't know that things would go so far.'
He added: 'I'm worried because they don't know who lives in houses, it can be anyone. But I support local people, even if it was not right what local people did last night and the other night, I don't blame them for nothing. I would be the same, it's a wee girl.'
About 100 metres down the road, Emma Little-Pengelly, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, was harshly criticised as she met residents of the affected street who expressed concern their houses would not survive the night.
'I have constantly been putting in complaints, nobody wants to know,' one said. 'We are not racist.'
'I worked 30 years in medicine, my house is half the price I paid for it,' another told the DUP politician.
Despite the communal fears over immigration, many feared the violence had become mindless.