Watch: Rioters burn down house live on TikTok
Credit: TikTok
Rioters livestreamed themselves burning down a house on TikTok during a second night of racially motivated disorder in Northern Ireland.
Violence first erupted in Ballymena, County Antrim on Monday after two 14-year-old boys, thought to be Romanian, were charged with the attempted rape of a young girl.
The violence continued on Tuesday night, with rioters attacking police with petrol bombs, masonry and fireworks, as well as targeting properties they believed belonged to foreigners.
Video footage obtained by The Telegraph shows a group of balaclava-clad men laughing in front of a house on Queen Street that had been set alight after being broken into.
The person filming asks for likes, follows and 'gifts' while livestreaming on TikTok before someone is heard to say they will 'smash a window for a gift'.
At one point, the person streaming the incident says 'rack them gifts up, boys' and 'I've got 2.6k views lad'.
TikTok gifts can be converted into cash and are a way of allowing users to monetise their video content.
In the footage, dozens of masked men are seen standing in front of the burning house as others break down wooden pallets and add them to the fire raging in the doorway.
As the fire continues to grow, someone says, 'this doesn't seem real', before rioters kick down the door of the neighbouring house and can be heard shouting for anyone inside to come out.
When no one emerges, someone says: 'They're probably P----, that's why they're f---ing away running upstairs'.
They then enter the house to search for anyone who might be hiding inside before retreating to the street after apparently finding it empty.
Credit: Kevin Scott/Belfast Telegraph
Police officers came under 'sustained attack' from multiple petrol bombs, heavy masonry, bricks and fireworks over a number of hours.
A water cannon and rubber bullets were used against the rioters to contain the 'serious disorder', which was condemned as 'racist thuggery' by police.
A spokesman for the Police Service of Northern Ireland said: 'During the course of the serious disorder in Ballymena, authorised officers discharged a number of Attenuating Energy Projectiles and the water cannon was also deployed in an attempt to disperse the crowds.
'Businesses and homes were attacked and damaged, and a number of vehicles were also set on fire in the area.'
In total, 33 officers have been injured in the violence, with some requiring hospital treatment. The force said five people had been arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour and remain in police custody.
One man was also arrested on suspicion of disorderly behaviour on O'Neill Road in Newtownabbey.
Speaking in the Commons on Wednesday, Sir Keir Starmer told MPs: 'I utterly condemn the violence that we have seen overnight in Ballymena and in other parts of Northern Ireland.'
Jon Boutcher, the Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable, said the 'mindless violence' was deeply concerning and unacceptable.
'These criminal acts not only endanger lives but also risk undermining the ongoing criminal justice process led by the PSNI in support of a victim who deserves truth, justice and protection,' he said. 'Ironically, and frustratingly, this violence threatens to derail the very pursuit of justice it claims to challenge.'
The Police Federation for Northern Ireland said its officers were working in conditions that were 'downright dangerous'.
Liam Kelly, the chairman, said officers 'cannot continue to be exposed to unnecessary risk or extended frontline duties'. He said attacks on innocent people and police officers are 'reprehensible'.
He added: 'There should be no place in this society for violent thugs and racists to blatantly disregard the rule of law, intimidate and terrorise people out of their homes and criminally attack both persons and property.
'I would directly appeal to the right-minded public to condemn these actions and provide PSNI with the information that will assist in identifying the perpetrators so they can rightly be put before the courts.'
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