5 days of race riots in Northern Ireland

Key Judgements

• 5 days of violent race riots in the Ballymena area of Northern Ireland after the attempted rape of a teenage girl
• 32 police officers were injured, and several houses were burned or damaged
• Additional police officers and resources were requested from Great Britain

Timeline

7^th June

On the evening of the 7^th of June, the sexual assault and attempted oral rape of a teenage girl was reported to the PSNI in the Clonavon Terrace area of Ballymena. A police investigation began around the incident, which occurred between 7.30pm and 10.30pm. Two 14-year-old boys were arrested and questioned. Specialist officers supported the teenage girl who was left distressed and traumatised.

8^th June

On the 8^th, police announced the two teenage boys had been charged with attempted rape and were to appear before court on the morning of the 9^th. A Facebook post was circulated in the local community, telling people to gather at a local spot, “Ken’s car park”, at 7:30 p.m. on the 9^th to “show their anger”.

9^th June

On the 9^th, the two teenage boys appeared via video link before Coleraine Magistrates Court, confirming their names through a Romanian interpreter. A defence solicitor said both teens were denying the charge, and they were to appear before court again next month.

At around 7:30pm, hundreds gathered in Ballymena for a peaceful protest in support of the family of the girl. The vigil was initially peaceful as it made its way towards the Clonavon Terrace area of Ballymena. Police officers were present due to the large number of people.

Several masked individuals broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties in the Clonavon Terrace area. Members of the crowd attacked officers with petrol bombs and masonry. This disorder was sustained and continued in the vicinity of Galgorm Street, Linenhall Street and the Larne Road Link. Riot Police in Land Rovers attempted to contain the crowds by blocking off the road.

As the disorder grew in intensity, police issued a statement urging people to avoid the Clonavon Road area. A makeshift barricade was made in the road and set alight. A crowd of people began targeting houses in the area, with individuals kicking doors down. Four houses in the area were set alight, and three people had to be evacuated from the properties. The NI Fire and Rescue Service arrived to tackle the blazes.

Police came under “sustained” attack for several hours as the disorder continued, and in total, 15 officers were injured. One person involved in the rioting was struck with a rubber bullet fired by police. Two police vehicles were also damaged during the disorder. In total, six properties in Clonavon Terrace had sustained damage to windows and doors. Police said they would investigate the actions as “racially motivated hate attacks”.

10^th June

On the 10^th, shortly after 12.20am, a vehicle at the Tobar Park area in the village of Cullybackey, a few miles outside Ballymena, was targeted in a petrol bomb attack. The blaze caused damage to a nearby property, with a woman and two children inside.

During the day police and local authorities began a clean-up operation with debris and burning items being cleared from the roads. Scorch marks and melted bins remained on the streets. Police said there was no evidence of paramilitary involvement. Two homes which had suffered significant smoke damage from the 9^th remained sealed off. A third arrest was made, a 28-year-old man, for the original sexual assault crime before being release from police custody following questioning.

Some homes begun displaying stickers outlining the residents’ nationalities including “British household” and “Filipino lives here”.  Local people had but up handwritten signs and Union Jack flags in their windows to ward off looters and rioters.

In the evening, riot police were deployed to Ballymena. Clashes between protesters and police occurred, with water cannons used and small burning barricades destroyed by police vehicles. One car was set on fire near the parking lot where the protests first began, while another was flipped over and burned out. Later, multiple homes were set on fire. There was a heavily pregnant woman in one of the houses set on fire who was removed from the property and taken to the police station for safety.

Police also dealt with sporadic incidents of disorder in Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus in County Antrim and north Belfast. Bins were set alight, and bricks were thrown at police by a group of 20 to 30 young people. One man, aged 29, was charged with riotous behaviour, disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police after the violence on the 9^th.

11^th June

By the morning of the 11^th, six individuals had been arrested for public order offences, and one charged.

In the evening, police officers were attacked with petrol bombs, heavy masonry, a hatchet, bricks and fireworks. Officers responded by using water cannons, dogs and plastic batons and rubber bullets. Riot police with shields advanced on the crowd to disperse them down Bridge Street onto other roads. Rioters smashed the windows of a house on North Street and set multiple fires on streets in the surrounding area. The disorder and stand-off with police continued past midnight. Nine officers were injured, while two men, aged in their 20s, and one in their 30s, along with two teenagers, were arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour and other offences. Additionally, masked rioters set fire to a leisure centre in nearby Larne that was hosting families fleeing the rioting in Ballymena.

12^th June

On the 12^th in the morning, 3 teenagers appeared in magistrates’ court and were charged with rioting offences. Two other teenage boys were arrested and released on bail to allow for further police inquiries.

Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long said she would seek additional police for Northern Ireland police in the June Monitoring Round.

Police responded to a previous attack on the local leisure centre in Larne along with firefighters to clear up the building and surrounding area.

Elsewhere, masked protesters blocked local roads in the Marine Highway area of Carrickfergus, a teenager was arrested in Newtownabbey following disorder in the Station Road area and in Coleraine, a bus was attacked, bins were set alight on the train tracks and petrol bombs were thrown at police. However, associated protests passed without incident in the Antrim and Lisburn areas, and there were mainly peaceful protests in Belfast.

Analysis

There are a few likely factors behind the riots and the underlying tensions that lead to them.

Firstly, the local area, Ballymena, has a strong religious community  and had been dubbed the “buckle of the bible belt” of Northern Ireland. The area has been a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) heartland with the firebrand preacher the Rev Ian Paisley winning for constituency for decades. The DUP have often spoken out against increased levels of migration and the issues of demographic changes.

Secondly, there had been long term concerns over the levels of migration into Ballymena with  DUP assembly member Paul Frew saying tensions had been rising and some people were frightened about illegal immigration. During the 1990s there had been rioting over areas like Drumcree and Ballymena over immigration and the changing social makeup. One of the reasons behind the levels of immigration is the relatively prosperous nature of Ballymena as a market town in Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement secured peace. Some local politicians like North Antrim MP Jim Allister argued that local authorities failed to manage the integration of migrants and address concerns from local people, making them feel ignored. The number of migrants has increased, the net number of international migrants who have moved into Ballymena between 2001 and 2022 was 4,900, compared with 62,000 for the whole of Northern Ireland. However, only 3.5% of the population are from an ethnic minority, compared with 18% in England and Wales and about 13% in Scotland.

Thirdly, the use of social media likely helped to increase the number of people attending and supporting the riots. The example, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons had highlighted the use of the Larne leisure centres in a social media post hours before the attack. Mr Lyons will be referred to the standards commission as a result. Additionally, there had been widespread livestreaming of the violence with some videos directing people where to go, and how to get around the police barricades. This activity is likely to have helped the rioters cause additional disruption and spread awareness of the event to more interested parties.

What happens next?

After Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long’s stated she would seek additional police for Northern Ireland police in the June Monitoring Round, it is highly likely that a greater amount of police resources will be deployed to Ballymena.

The controversy around immigration in the local area is unlikely to subside and politicians within the Northern Ireland Assembly are likely to debate on policy as a result.