Groups roaming the streets and challenging those who look different than they do have been roundly criticised but like others before them they claim to be protecting communities
Scene of disorder in Ballymena in June after violence broke out following the alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl in the town
The emergence of ‘vigilante patrol’ groups targeting ethnic minorities and the homeless has drawn criticism from politicians, human rights groups and others in recent days.
But so-called vigilantism is by no means a new phenomenon.