Tempers rise as Northern Ireland rioters target police

Fireworks, bricks and petrol bombs were thrown at police in the Northern Irish town of Ballymena on Tuesday, in a second night of what has been labeled "racially motivated" disturbances following the arrest of two teenagers over an alleged sexual assault.

The pair spoke in Romanian, through an interpreter, to confirm their names and ages when they appeared at Coleraine Magistrates' Court. Their solicitor said they would be denying the charges.

During the disturbances, which saw windows smashed and cars set alight, police officers fired baton rounds and used a water cannon to disperse crowds.

Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, called the scenes "racist thuggery" and said the force was "actively working to identify those responsible" for what he described as "racially motivated disorder".

The BBC reported that some houses had even begun displaying signs in the window reading "British household" or "Filipino lives here".

A total of five people were arrested on Tuesday night and 17 police officers were injured, in addition to 15 who were hurt on Monday night.

Although decades of violent civil conflict in Northern Ireland ended years ago, there are still underlying sectarian tensions.

Frequently, these tensions flare up in the summer, around the so-called marching season of public parades by members of the loyalist community, whose political allegiance is to the British state, and which are regarded as provocative by members of the Republican community, whose allegiance is to Ireland. The marches often lead to incidents of public disorder.

Sian Mulholland, a member of the devolved Northern Ireland Assembly for the nonsectarian Alliance Party, told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster program that there was "widespread livestreaming on social media of the violence — directing people where to go, how to get around the police barricades".

Jim Allister, the local member of the parliament representing the Traditional Unionist Voice party, spoke of his anger at what he called a display of "legitimate anger" about the alleged sexual assault and the "growing local concern about unchecked immigration into the town", which he claimed had been hijacked by outsiders and used as an excuse to stir up trouble.

"The failure of successive authorities to manage integration or address local concerns," he added, "has left many residents feeling ignored and disrespected".

A spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the scenes "very concerning".

"Obviously, the reports of sexual assault in the area are extremely distressing, but there is no justification for attacks on police officers while they continue to protect local communities," he continued.

"(Police) and the justice system must be allowed to carry out their jobs and our thoughts are with the victims of the assault as well as the police officers who were injured."