{"id":188842,"date":"2025-06-16T11:21:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T11:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/188842\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T11:21:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T11:21:16","slug":"ni-protests-girl-13-among-those-charged-following-race-riots-in-ni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/188842\/","title":{"rendered":"NI protests: Girl (13) among those charged following race riots in NI"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an update on Monday, the PSNI<\/a> also said they have made five more arrests in connection with the arson attack on Larne Leisure Centre<\/a> on Wednesday \u2013 including a man in his 20s and another man aged 25 who remains in police custody.<\/p>\n

Police confirmed the total number of people arrested now stands at 28 and said there will be \u201cmore to come in the coming days and weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n

While the PSNI said there was a \u201creduced level of disorder on Sunday\u201d, they confirmed officers still dealt with \u201csporadic disturbances in different locations\u201d.<\/p>\n

The violence in Ballymena last week, which then spread to other areas of Northern Ireland, was sparked following an alleged sexual assault of a teenage girl in the Clonavon Terrace area.<\/p>\n

The two 14-year-old boys, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were charged with attempted rape at Coleraine Magistrates Court<\/a>. They spoke through a Romanian interpreter.<\/p>\n

That violence also reached Larne, where people targeted the leisure centre after it emerged the building had been the building being used as a temporary shelter for families who had to flee their homes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A fire at the entrance to Larne Leisure Centre<\/p>\n

Police said the 25-year-old man was arrested is being held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life in relation to the fire at the centre.<\/p>\n

A PSNI spokesperson added: \u201cFour have been charged to appear before court today, Monday 16th June. This includes a girl aged 13 who has been charged with riot by officers investigating disorder in Ballymena on Wednesday, 11th June and a man aged 40, also charged with riot following the first night of the disorder in Ballymena on Monday, 9th June.<\/p>\n

“A 33-year-old woman has been charged with child cruelty relating to the disorder.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, detectives investigating online posts relating to recent public disorder have charged a 32-year-old man to court.<\/p>\n

“He has been charged with sending menacing messages through a public electronic communications network and with encouraging or assisting offences believing one or more will be committed.<\/p>\n

\"Larne<\/p>\n

Larne Leisure Centre was damaged during the disturbances<\/p>\n

“He is further charged with possession of a class B controlled drug. He is due to appear before Coleraine Magistrates\u2019 Court today, Monday, 16th June.<\/p>\n

\u201cGraffiti in Bangor and on an unoccupied house in Chadwick Street in south Belfast are being investigated as race-motivated hate crimes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Brompton Park in Ardoyne, around 30 youths set a wheelie bin on fire, no damage was caused to shops and, following engagement, no serious disorder ensued.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Police<\/p>\n

Police deal with a second night of disorder in Ballymena on June 10th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott)<\/p>\n

Police deal with a third night of violence in Ballymena<\/p>\n

Speaking about the disorder, Assistant Chief Constable Melanie Jones added: \u201cOur heightened presence in our local communities and continued community engagement to de-escalate violence continued last night, thankfully, similar to Saturday, the situation was much calmer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI issued a public plea to parent\/guardians and families of young people who have been driving the criminal activity in some areas to warn them of the serious consequences of their actions. I am asking for continued conversations amongst local families to deter young people from criminalising themselves.”<\/p>\n

On Friday, the PSNI also released images of four individuals they wish to identify, while warning social media users about posting hate online.<\/p>\n

ACC Jones added: \u201cOur Chief Constable and other members of the senior team have been meeting with local community representatives of those affected over the weekend so we can support them as best we can and offer reassurance of our policing operation to restore calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone deserves to feel safe on our streets. So, just as we will seek justice for women and girls who report heinous crimes to us, we will also seek justice for local innocent families who are being targeted by criminality fuelled by hate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to robustly investigate the disorder over the last number of days but do not want to see any more young people criminalised by being caught up in this activity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThankfully, none of our officers policing this disorder reported being injured on duty last night. We have 64 of our colleagues currently recovering from injury and I commend their bravery and unwavering efforts.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A second night of protests take place in Ballymena on June 10th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) <\/p>\n

\u201cAs our investigation continues, we have already released images of a number of individuals we want to identify and interview in connection with our ongoing investigation. In releasing these images, I am asking the wider community to step forward and help us. It is in all of our interests, and in the interests of justice, that those responsible are dealt with and I would urge anyone who may have information to bring it forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are able to identify any of the people shown in these images or can provide information about them you should contact us on 101 or on our major incident portal, which is accessible on our website.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would also like to reassure the communities that we serve that we will continue to maintain our presence and protect streets.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are grateful for the support of all who condemn this criminality and would, once more, repeat our appeal for calm across Northern Ireland in the coming days.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an update on Monday, the PSNI also said they have made five more arrests in connection with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188843,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[6722,73935,1144,1610,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-188842","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-christopher-leebody","9":"tag-ni-protests","10":"tag-northern-ireland","11":"tag-police-service-of-northern-ireland","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114692783258994948","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188842"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188842\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188843"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}