Anti-Migrant Riots Break Out in Northern Ireland

Violent riots targeting migrants broke out this week in the Northern Ireland town of Ballymena over a sexual assault and the arrest of two teenage suspects, reportedly foreign-born, who were allegedly involved in the attack, Al Jazeera reported. 

The unrest began on Monday following a vigil in a neighborhood in the town about 30 miles northwest of Belfast, where an alleged sexual assault took place over the weekend. Rioters attacked properties and damaged four houses, which police are investigating as racially motivated “hate crimes.” 

Hundreds of demonstrators, many masked, took to the streets of Ballymena on Tuesday, throwing Molotov cocktails, fireworks, and bricks, and setting fire to homes and cars. The police responded with water cannons and fired plastic baton rounds to disperse the crowds. 

More than 30 police officers were injured, along with more than a dozen protesters, Reuters wrote.  

Two 14-year-old boys, charged with an attempted rape of a teenage girl, appeared in court on Monday and asked for a Romanian interpreter, according to local media.  

Ballymena has a large migrant population, and tensions remained high on Tuesday after the protesters were dispersed. Residents said the scenes were “terrifying.”  

One Romanian resident said she was hanging a British flag on her front window in the hope of not being targeted. Another put up a British and Filipino flag with the message “Filipino lives here,” the Belfast Telegraph noted. 

Northern Ireland saw an outbreak of violence against migrants in August after the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, England, which triggered similar riots across the United Kingdom.