It comes after the TUV’s Timothy Gaston told a Stormont committee that he has raised serious concerns with Deputy Chief Constable Bobby Singleton.
“Any violence and all violence in Ballymena was wrong, but there’s an element of that was underlying tensions and on the night, the police contributed to that starting by the way they handled the blocking of Harryville Bridge,” he said on Friday.
“The large majority of people — there was only a small minority of people who were in Ballymena on the night to cause trouble — but yet the PSNI came out with this message that the whole thing was racist thuggery and far right.”
Mr Gaston said the narrative “allowed labels to be applied”, which he described as “deeply misleading and deeply regrettable”.
“It helped ensure the violence continued for several nights,” he added.
The Justice Minister took to social media to criticise the remarks.
“Disgraceful comments for any political representative. Such disorder is solely the fault of those who engaged in it,” Alliance party leader Mrs Long posted on X.
“Suggesting @PoliceServiceNI contributed to what unfolded is despicable.
“Officers actually placed themselves at risk to save lives.”
The Police Federation for Northern Ireland also took to social media to dispute the allegations made by Mr Gaston.
“On behalf of our members, we totally reject the assertion being made that our officers in some way contributed to the disgraceful disorder scenes in Ballymena last summer,” the body that represents rank-and-file officers posted.
“We didn’t and don’t always get everything right, but that in no way justifies the wanton violence and criminality that subsequently played out.”
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Multiple nights of rioting in Ballymena back in June spread to other parts of Northern Ireland, including Portadown, Larne and Belfast, and have so far resulted in 100 arrests being made.
The disorder erupted following reports of a young girl being sexually assaulted and saw police come under sustained attack, while properties housing ethnic minorities were targeted and destroyed.
Mr Gaston acknowledged “huffing and blowing” in the chamber as he outlined his “lived experience and that of my local community where the Roma community came in and basically took over Clonavon”.
“People didn’t feel safe to go down into Clonavon, ghettos were allowed to bed in.
“This was on the doorstep of the police station — local people felt as if they were marginalised and people felt forgotten about… integration simply didn’t happen.”
The Executive Office committee chair acknowledged the “really good point” about social cohesion before Mr Gaston went on to express “serious reservations” about a police service that has been “captured” by ideology.
The North Antrim representative also called for the force to be properly resourced and staffed with people in positions “based on merit” and not skin colour or religion.
Mr Gaston’s comments on November 12 came before attempted rape charges against two Romanian teenagers were withdrawn by the Public Prosecution Service at the end of the month.
Justice Minister Naomi Long has reacted after comments made by the TUV’s Timothy Gaston about how the PSNI handled riots in Ballymena.
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The 14 and 15-year-old boys had been accused of attempting to rape a schoolgirl in Ballymena on June 7, resulting in them being held in juvenile detention.
A separate suspect was believed to have fled to Romania the next day.
But criminal proceedings against all three were abandoned recently due to “significant evidential developments” in Belfast Youth Court.
The PSNI was contacted for comment.