https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jul/19/ballymena-impact-anti-migrant-riots-northern-ireland

Since Ballymena erupted in three nights of anti-migrant riots last month, tranquility has returned to the County Antrim town. The rioters, after all, got what they wanted. They won.

Dozens of Roma families that fled have not returned and those that remain keep a low profile – they do not linger on the streets and are scarcely visible.

The mobs who smashed windows, burned houses and battled police in order to expel Roma – and some other foreigners – from this corner of Northern Ireland see it as a victory.

“That’s them away back home. Everybody is relieved,” said Leanne Williamson, 42, who witnessed, and endorsed, the unrest. “It was madness but it was long overdue. The Romanians were ignorant and cheeky. Everyone now is at peace.”

In the main flashpoint – Clonavon Terrace and adjoining streets – houses that were torched remain gutted and boarded up. Of the Roma families who inhabited them there is no sign. There are no official figures but one informed source with ties to the community estimated that of the approximate pre-riot population of 1,200, two-thirds are gone – or, to use a loaded term, ethnically cleansed.
Fire-damaged terrace houses with boarded up windows on the ground floor
Gutted homes previously occupied by foreigners in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian

“The place is empty, a lot have left,” said Kirsty, 35, a Clonavon Road resident who withheld her surname. She did not miss her former neighbours, or what she said had been a transient flux. “You didn’t know who was coming and going. Now it’s a lot calmer. You can let your weans [children] out on the street a bit further.” Did the riots achieve their goal? “Yes.”

Another local person, who did not want his name published and did not endorse the riots, said the aftermath was striking. “Ballymena was like a whole new town, there was an amazing atmosphere. It was like something out of a movie where the bad gang has been kicked out and people come out to celebrate.”

The sentiment this week felt closer to quiet satisfaction, not jubilation, but it was still a counterpoint to the condemnation last month – from Keir Starmer and politicians across Northern Ireland – of mayhem that left dozens of police officers injured. The Police Federation likened the outbreak to an attempted pogrom. Violence abated as quickly as it started and apart from reports of prosecutions the story disappeared from headlines.

Plenty in Ballymena, a largely working-class Protestant town 25 miles north of Belfast, feel shame at what happened. “They were wrecking places and causing harm to people,” said Padraig, a teenager. “It was racist,” said his friend Robert. “I don’t think it was the right thing to do.”

Their reluctance to be fully identified reflected the fact that for others in Ballymena, it was mission accomplished.
A street of boarded-up and occupied homes in Ballymena
Authorities are unable to say how many people fled or have since returned to Ballymena. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian

Filipinos and people from central and eastern Europe, drawn by factory work, have increased in number in the past decade, mostly without incident, but the Roma people were singled out for allegations of antisocial behaviour and criminality. An alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl by two 14-year-old boys, who appeared in court with a Romanian interpreter, triggered the riots. A third suspect fled to Romania.

“Where are the foreigners?” the mob shouted during a free-for-all against anyone deemed non-local – a scene that echoed anti-immigrant riots in Belfast and England last summer, and fuelled warnings that the UK is a “powder keg” of social tension.

However, rioters and sympathisers later apologised to non-Roma families who were “accidentally” targeted. Posters that declared “Filipino lives here”, and loyalist bunting, sprouted on doors and windows to deflect attack.

In a sign of reduced tension the stickers have gone and Filipinos said they felt safe. “We are staying, we are OK. Our dreams will not stop with the trauma,” said Karen Estrella, 35, a care home worker. Posters that declare “Locals live here” have also dwindled.
A house in Ballymena with a union jack and ‘Locals live here’ poster taped to windows.
A Ballymena residence with a flag and poster that declare the occupants are British. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian

Fero, a 45-year-old from Slovakia, said he liked Ballymena and blamed the riots on misbehaviour by Roma and Bulgarians. “I’m happy with what happened. Now they’re gone.”

Authorities are unable to say how many people fled or have since returned, and appear reluctant to comment on the riots’ aftermath. Ballymena’s mayor, deputy mayor, constituency MP and several other public representatives declined or did not respond to interview requests.

The Department for Communities referred questions about the vanished Roma to the Housing Executive, which said it did not hold such information but that 74 households – not necessarily Roma – sought assistance during the disorder. Of these households, 21 were placed in temporary accommodation and others made their own arrangements, said a spokesperson.

Critics have accused unionist parties of turning a blind eye to racism – such as a loyalist bonfire in County Tyrone that burned an effigy of migrants – to avoid losing votes. In Ballymena reticence extends to some civic society organisations that declined to be interviewed or quoted.

A paradox underpins the vigilantism. Some local people accuse the Roma of peddling cannabis and vapes, and credit paramilitaries with leading the expulsions, yet they acknowledge that paramilitaries sell drugs. “Aye,” said one, with a shrug. “That’s it.”
Leanne Williamson sitting in a cafe
Leanne Williamson, a Ballymena resident, said ‘everyone now is at peace’. Photograph: Rory Carroll/The Guardian

During the Guardian’s visit this week, the only visible Roma presence was a family at a fast-food restaurant. It was raining yet they sat at an outside bench, getting wet, rather than inside.

by ReachersProteinFarts

40 comments

  1. Unlikely to be over for the summer.

    It’s kicking off in Essex at the moment, and I’ll be surprised if there aren’t more instances of these sorts of protests

  2. Even other foreigners including Roma not involved in the crime gang are happy they’re gone.

    At least some truth has been posted.

    Just read the article.

  3. Ballymena would be a lot better if all the ballymena people left it

  4. People celebrating a successful pogrom need to get their heads checked.

  5. Let’s be honest it’s never been about all Foreigners. It was about the roma community in that town who caused all sorts of problems. Just like the roma in south Belfast. Do these areas already have local scum? Of course they do. But why should we allow for more imported crime?

  7. > Some local people accuse the Roma of peddling cannabis and vapes

    I don’t understand the vapes bit. Aren’t they just sold in corner shops anyway? Why would anyone “peddle” them?

  9. “The Romanians were ignorant and cheeky. Everyone now is at peace.” Said ole Leanne Williamson.

    Ignorance – by definition means “lacking in knowledge.”

    Leanne love , they are Romani – not Romanian …. So please tell me who’s ignorant?

  11. I see two where convicted after 3 of them dragged the poor child into their garage and gang graped her. Hopefully the 3rd gang rapist gets caught and charged.

    I remember when this news first drop people tried downplaying the severity of the assault.

  12. Wonder whether Leanne, pictured in the article, would do the jobs that the immigrants have been doing?

  13. ‘We burnt out the foreigners and now it’s peaceful’ isn’t that the exact mentality that’s kept this place in the dark ages for 300 years?

    Plantation settlers cleared out the Catholics and now loyalist mobs clear out the migrants. Every time it’s dressed up as ‘protecting our community’, and every time it just means another generation growing up thinking fear and intimidation are normal.

  14. >The Romanians were ignorant and cheeky

    Unlike the locals who definitely do worthwhile things all the time and have amazing parents or parenting skills, like Leanne here

  17. I DO wish people wouldn’t conflate Roma with Romanians (and vice versa), it stigmatises Romanians.

  18. > Critics have accused unionist parties of turning a blind eye to racism – such as a loyalist bonfire in County Tyrone that burned an effigy of migrants – to avoid losing votes. In Ballymena reticence extends to some civic society organisations that declined to be interviewed or quoted.

    You really should say _which_ organisations this was, Guardian journalist.

    And do they include the TUV and DUP you presumably asked for comment? (…perhaps even UUP reps too?)

  19. That racist Slovakian “That could also be from the Roma community” is happy the crime gang is gone.

    But them racist loyalists.

  20. This makes me think that if you don’t care about the economic impact of ethnic cleansing your town, like under some ubi scenarios, that people may feel little is stopping them from doing the same.

  21. There’s no way the term ‘transient flux’ has ever been uttered by Leanne from Ballymena

  22. And just for most of the people commenting, Ballymena is full of foreigners, thousands of Filipinos people from all different nationalities. And it’s my understanding by having friends in these communities that everyone is a lot happier now that the Roma which brought nothing but crime is gone or are going.

    Seems everyone just blocks you when you tell the truth.
    Ah well more trolls I won’t have to deal with.

  24. The same toothless dog fuckers are now gurning about how long it takes to get a McDelivery too.

  25. The people of Ballymena – left with just their bitter selves for company.

    The irony of them complaining about anti social behaviour when the paramilitaries are still running places and dealing drugs.

  26. What happened in Ballymena was Roma-gypsy and Romanian ethnic cleansing. A pogrom. The Northern Ireland can call itself proud/s

  27. i was there earlier today for the first time in a month to do the same errands we used to do weekly and holy the place feels more dystopic.  i’ve been there many times before and it always feels bleak and gloomy but seeing a dozen new unionist flags popping out of everyone’s house felt overwhelming and “locals live here” posters on the windows still being there a month later makes me feel disappointed

  28. “But the UDA are OUR drug dealers and pimps and they got those forners out” Love Gods Country.

  29. “Tranquility has returned to the County Antrim town.”

    I’m just imagining “Morning Mood” by Edvard Grieg playing as a wheelie bin is smoldering lol

  31. This sounds weird. The 2021 census said the population was at most 0.4% “other”, while 1200 Roma in a town of 30,000 is 4%.

    Sounds like someone is overstating the issue by 10x, unless hundreds arrived in the last three years ?

  32. Seeing the events in Ballymena and other areas of Northern Ireland made me decide against relocating to NI from England as a mixed race bloke with a white English wife, so I guess they won against me too.

  33. Dirty dirty chapter of the history of Ballymena, absolutely ashamed of the place and to be from there

  34. Who would want to be there in the first instance?

  35. ‘ignorant and cheeky’…8/10 locals think ignorant means rude

  36. Leanne Williamson looks a tad brown herself. I demand to see her birth certificate

  37. So a convicted shoplifter is saying the town is better without migrants. Stupid bitch

  38. What makes me so sad with this, the homes they burnt and damage, the homes they wanted for local people. They now can’t be used until they have been gutted and sorted if at all. So really all this has done nothing, sure the foreign faces have gone (that is the faces that don’t fit or work in care because no one else will) the locals look like complete brainless idiots and the local resources for local people won’t happen because they wrecked it all. Worth it wasn’t it!

  39. No British person is going to visit Ballymena or invest anything in it.

    The locals can wallow in their stinking swamp until the time is right to give it back to the Republic.

  40. I’m sorry, what is the downside to this?

    Societal change is baked in.

    It is the speed and size of societal change that is the matter.

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