Everything we know about Ballymena riot after teenagers accused of sexual assault

Everything we know about Ballymena riot after teenagers accused of sexual assault



Posted by theipaper

17 comments

  1. Riots erupted and homes were set on fire in a Northern Ireland town after two teenage boys were charged with attempted rape.

    Fifteen police officers were injured after disorder broke out in Ballymena on Monday night with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) appealing for calm.

    Police said firebomb attacks on homes in the area last night are being treated as racially-motivated hate crimes.

    Hundreds of people had gathered earlier in the County Antrim town after reports of the alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl.

    On Tuesday, local MP Jim Allister said the violence came amid rising local tensions over immigration.

    # Teenagers charged with attempted rape

    Two teenage boys were charged with attempted rape of a girl on Saturday night.

    The 14-year-olds appeared at Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where they denied charges of oral rape.

    They confirmed their names and ages through a Romanian interpreter. Their solicitor said they would deny the charges.

    They appeared by video link from Woodlands Juvenile Centre wearing grey tracksuits and were remanded in custody until 2 July.

    # Protest over alleged attack

    A crowd of around 2,500 people gathered in Ballymena on Monday for a protest related to the alleged attack at around 7.30pm.

    Men, women and children marched along Larne Street and Queen Street from the town centre.

    A number of masked individuals broke away and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties in the Clonavon Terrace area.

  2. Why doesn’t the echr protect British citizens from rape?

    Why are we happy as a country to be importing 14 year old rapists?

    This isn’t racism. It’s standing up to protect the most vulnerable. Something the government hasn’t done for decades….

  3. Definitely understandable people would be angry about immigration and crime. But setting fire to houses with children inside is wrong.

  4. I wonder how many of those rioting were calling Connor McGregor’s victim a liar last year.

  5. I feel like this article is missing a lot of context about the sources of community tension here.

  6. Im surprised labour arent calling them far right thugs yet

  8. Ah yes. So teenagers accused of sexual assault who moved here as migrants but have leave to stay under the Brexit deal (not immigrants) have been arrested and so the obvious proportionate reaction is to riot and set homes on fire to try and kill other teenagers. That makes perfect sense. Ignorant, bigoted pricks.

  9. Hmm you’d think if they rioted every time someone got raped the country would’ve been burned down by now or do ppl only suddenly care when the offender is foreign for some reason 🤔

  13. Pretty sure this will be happening elsewhere in the uk with the way things are heading 😳

  14. I wonder if they would riot about a pedophile …… Jeffrey Donaldson is one …. Burn the place down…. No just have a drink of squash and move on

  15. “Stockpiling missiles”?! What?! How do people just get missiles???

  16. Would they have acted this way if the boys were British ?

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