Police injured, houses burned in second night of riots in Northern Ireland
Police said they were dealing with 'serious disorder' on Tuesday night in the town, located about 45km (30 miles) from the capital Belfast, and urged people to avoid the area.
Officers in riot gear and driving armoured vehicles responded with water cannon and firing plastic baton rounds after being attacked with Molotov cocktails, steel scaffolding poles and rocks that rioters gathered by knocking down nearby walls, the Reuters news agency reports.
One house was burned out and rioters attempted to set a second home alight, according to reports, while several cars were set on fire.
The Belfast Telegraph newspaper said that some residents in Ballymena have started to mark their front doors to indicate their nationality to avoid attack, while Irish media outlets report that a call has gone out for protests to be held in other towns and cities in Northern Ireland, currently part of the United Kingdom.
During earlier violence on Monday, four houses were damaged by fire and windows and doors were smashed in other homes and businesses, in what police said they are investigating as racially-motivated hate attacks.
'The terrible scenes of civil disorder we have witnessed in Ballymena again this evening have no place in Northern Ireland,' the UK's Northern Ireland minister, Hilary Been, said in a post on social media.
'There is absolutely no justification for attacks on PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] officers or for vandalism directed at people's homes or property,' he said.
Unrest first erupted on Monday night after a vigil in a neighbourhood of Ballymena where an alleged sexual assault occurred on Saturday. The trouble began when people in masks 'broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties', police said.
Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attempted rape of a teenage girl, had appeared in court earlier in the day, where they had asked for a Romanian interpreter, local media reports said.
Tensions in the town, which has a large migrant population, remained high throughout Tuesday, with residents describing the scenes as 'terrifying' and telling reporters that those involved were targeting 'foreigners'.
'This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,' Northern Ireland Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was investigating 'hate attacks' on homes and businesses and that 15 officers were injured in the rioting on Monday, including some who required hospital treatment.
Cornelia Albu, 52, a Romanian migrant and mother-of-two who lives opposite a house targeted in the attacks, said her family has been 'very scared'.
'Last night, it was crazy, because too many people came here and tried to put the house on fire,' Albu, who works in a factory, told the AFP news agency.
She said she would now have to move, but was worried she would not find another place to live because she was Romanian.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Former world snooker champion to face trial over sex abuse allegations
Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott will go on trial next year over allegations that he sexually abused children. The 48-year-old Dott is facing two charges of sex abuse against a boy and a girl. According to court papers seen by The Associated Press, the alleged abuse took place from 1993-96 and from 2006-10. A virtual hearing took place on Thursday at the High Court in Glasgow where Dott, who was not present, denied the charges, Britain's Press Association reported. 'The position of the accused is that the allegations are fabricated and there is no truth in any of them,' said Euan Dow, who is defending Dott. A trial date was set for August 17 next year at the same court and bail was continued, PA reported. Dott was suspended by snooker's governing body in April after being charged. Dott won the World Snooker Championship in 2006 after beating Peter Ebdon in the final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. The Scottish player also reached the final on two other occasions, losing to Ronnie O'Sullivan in 2004 and Neil Robertson in 2010.
Al Jazeera
4 hours ago
- Al Jazeera
Murder of journalists in Gaza step 'to silence' Palestinian voices
Oren Ziv explains why some Israelis protested the murder of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza while others celebrated. Oren Ziv, a journalist at +972 Magazine, explains why some Israelis protested the murder of Al Jazeera journalists in Gaza while others celebrated, revealing deep societal divides.
Al Jazeera
a day ago
- Al Jazeera
President Dina Boluarte signs into law Peru's amnesty bill despite outcry
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has signed into law a controversial piece of legislation that would shield the military, police and other government-sanctioned forces from prosecution for human rights abuses committed during the country's decades-long internal conflict. On Wednesday, Boluarte held a signing ceremony at the presidential palace in Lima, where she defended the amnesty law as a means of honouring the sacrifices made by government forces. 'This is a historic day for our country,' she said. 'It brings justice and honour to those who stood up to terrorism.' But human rights groups and international observers have condemned the bill as a violation of international law — not to mention a denial of justice for the thousands of survivors who lived through the conflict. From 1980 to 2000, Peru experienced a bloody conflict that pitted government forces against left-wing rebel groups like the Shining Path. Both sides, however, committed massacres, kidnappings and assaults on unarmed civilians, with the death toll from the conflict climbing as high as 70,000 people. Up until present, survivors and family members of the deceased have continued to fight for accountability. An estimated 600 investigations are currently under way, and 156 convictions have been achieved, according to the National Human Rights Coordinator, a coalition of Peruvian human rights organisations. Critics fear those ongoing probes could be scuttled under the wide-ranging protections offered by the new amnesty law, which stands to benefit soldiers, police officers and members of self-defence committees who face legal proceedings for which no final verdict has been rendered. The legislation also offers 'humanitarian' amnesty for those convicted over the age of 70. Peru, however, falls under the jurisdiction of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which ordered the country's government to 'immediately suspend the processing' of the law on July 24. The court ruled against past amnesty laws in Peru. In cases of severe human rights violations, it ruled that there can be no sweeping amnesty nor age limits for prosecution. In 1995, for instance, Peru passed a separate amnesty law that would have prevented the prosecution of security forces for human rights abuses between 1980 and that year. But it was greeted with widespread condemnation, including from United Nations experts, and it was eventually repealed. In the case of the current amnesty law, nine UN experts issued a joint letter in July condemning its passage as a 'clear breach of [Peru's] obligations under international law'. But at Wednesday's signing ceremony, President Boluarte reiterated her position that such international criticism was a violation of her country's sovereignty and that she would not adhere to the Inter-American Court's decision. 'Peru is honouring its defenders and firmly rejecting any internal or external interference,' Boluarte said. 'We cannot allow history to be distorted, for perpetrators to pretend to be victims, and for the true defenders of the homeland to be branded as enemies of the nation they swore to protect.' Peru's armed forces, however, have been implicated in a wide range of human rights abuses. Just last year, 10 soldiers were convicted of carrying out the systematic rape of Indigenous and rural women and girls. Drawing from Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission report, the human rights group Amnesty International estimates that the country's armed forces and police were responsible for 37 percent of the deaths and disappearances that happened during the conflict. They were also credited with carrying out 75 percent of the reported instances of torture and 83 percent of sexual violence cases. Francisco Ochoa, a victims' advocate, spoke to Al Jazeera last month about his experiences surviving the 1985 Accomarca massacre as a 14-year-old teenager. He had been in the corn fields preparing to sow seeds when soldiers arrived and rounded up the residents of his small Andean village. Despite having no evidence linking the villagers to rebel groups, the soldiers locked many of them in their huts, fired into the structures and set them ablaze. As many as 62 people were killed, including Ochoa's mother, eight-year-old brother and six-year-old sister. 'The first thing I remember from that day is the smell when we arrived,' Ochoa, now 54, told journalist Claudia Rebaza. 'It smelled like smouldering flesh, and there was no one around.' When asked how he and other survivors felt about the amnesty law, Ochoa responded, 'Outraged and betrayed'.
