Hundreds of masked rioters clashed with police and committed arson, targeting several properties in the Northern Irish town of Ballymena on Tuesday in the second successive night of violence following a protest over an alleged sexual abuse.There have been heavy police deployments in several areas of the town, some 45km away from the capital, Belfast. Police said they are dealing with severe unrest and urged people to avoid the area.Officers responded with water cannons and plastic baton rounds after being attacked with petrol bombs, masonry and rocks, to disperse the crowd, reported AFPFifteen police officers were injured on Monday, with some requiring hospital treatment. According to local media reports, as the night progressed, the crowd began to disperse, with some groups still milling around the town centre. Also, some protesters were reportedly blocking the roads to Belfast.
Violence first flared earlier on Monday when two boys accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in county Antrim Town were produced in court.Several cars were torched, with one found overturned and engulfed in flames, as police sirens echoed through the town. The initial wave of unrest saw four homes damaged by fire, while windows and doors were shattered in nearby residences and businesses, acts authorities are treating as racially motivated hate crimes.“This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,” assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson said on Tuesday, in a press conference.He added, “It was racist thuggery, pure and simple, and any attempt to justify it or explain it as something else is misplaced.”“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 AFP.“People were going after foreigners, whoever they were, or how innocent they were,” the woman, who did not want to share her name for security reasons.“But there were local people indoors down the street, scared as hell.”The British government and local politicians condemned the violence.“The terrible scenes of civil disorder we have witnessed in Ballymena again this evening have no place in Northern Ireland,” Britain’s Northern Ireland minister Hilary Been wrote on X.