{"id":274790,"date":"2025-07-19T13:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-19T13:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/274790\/"},"modified":"2025-07-19T13:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-19T13:16:09","slug":"the-place-is-empty-a-lot-have-left-ballymena-weighs-up-impact-of-anti-migrant-riots-northern-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/274790\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The place is empty, a lot have left\u2019: Ballymena weighs up impact of anti-migrant riots | Northern Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

Dozens of Roma families that fled have not returned and those that remain keep a low profile \u2013 they do not linger on the streets and are scarcely visible.<\/p>\n

The mobs who smashed windows, burned houses and battled police in order to expel Roma \u2013 and some other foreigners \u2013 from this corner of Northern Ireland<\/a> see it as a victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s them away back home. Everybody is relieved,\u201d said Leanne Williamson, 42, who witnessed, and endorsed, the unrest. \u201cIt was madness but it was long overdue. The Romanians were ignorant and cheeky. Everyone now is at peace.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the main flashpoint \u2013 Clonavon Terrace and adjoining streets \u2013 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 \u2013 or, to use a loaded term, ethnically cleansed.<\/p>\n

Gutted homes previously occupied by foreigners in Ballymena, Northern Ireland. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

\u201cThe place is empty, a lot have left,\u201d 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. \u201cYou didn\u2019t know who was coming and going. Now it\u2019s a lot calmer. You can let your weans [children] out on the street a bit further.\u201d Did the riots achieve their goal? \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another local person, who did not want his name published and did not endorse the riots, said the aftermath was striking. \u201cBallymena 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

The sentiment this week felt closer to quiet satisfaction, not jubilation, but it was still a counterpoint to the condemnation last month \u2013 from Keir Starmer and politicians across Northern Ireland<\/a> \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

Plenty in Ballymena, a largely working-class Protestant town 25 miles north of Belfast, feel shame at what happened. \u201cThey were wrecking places and causing harm to people,\u201d said Padraig, a teenager. \u201cIt was racist,\u201d said his friend Robert. \u201cI don\u2019t think it was the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their reluctance to be fully identified reflected the fact that for others in Ballymena, it was mission accomplished.<\/p>\n

Authorities are unable to say how many people fled or have since returned to Ballymena. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere are the foreigners?\u201d<\/a> the mob shouted during a free-for-all against anyone deemed non-local \u2013 a scene that echoed anti-immigrant riots in Belfast and England last summer<\/a>, and fuelled warnings <\/a>that the UK is a \u201cpowder keg\u201d of social tension.<\/p>\n

However, rioters and sympathisers later apologised to non-Roma families who were \u201caccidentally\u201d targeted. Posters that declared \u201cFilipino lives here\u201d, and loyalist bunting, sprouted on doors and windows to deflect attack.<\/p>\n

In a sign of reduced tension the stickers have gone and Filipinos said they felt safe. \u201cWe are staying, we are OK. Our dreams will not stop with the trauma,\u201d said Karen Estrella, 35, a care home worker. Posters that declare \u201cLocals live here\u201d have also dwindled.<\/p>\n

A Ballymena residence with a flag and poster that declare the occupants are British. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Fero, a 45-year-old from Slovakia, said he liked Ballymena and blamed the riots on misbehaviour by Roma and Bulgarians. \u201cI\u2019m happy with what happened. Now they\u2019re gone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities are unable to say how many people fled or have since returned, and appear reluctant to comment on the riots\u2019 aftermath. Ballymena\u2019s mayor, deputy mayor, constituency MP and several other public representatives declined or did not respond to interview requests.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 not necessarily Roma \u2013 sought assistance during the disorder. Of these households, 21 were placed in temporary accommodation and others made their own arrangements, said a spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Critics have accused unionist parties of turning a blind eye to racism \u2013 such as a loyalist bonfire in County Tyrone that burned an effigy of migrants<\/a> \u2013 to avoid losing votes. In Ballymena reticence extends to some civic society organisations that declined to be interviewed or quoted.<\/p>\n

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. \u201cAye,\u201d said one, with a shrug. \u201cThat\u2019s it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leanne Williamson, a Ballymena resident, said \u2018everyone now is at peace\u2019. Photograph: Rory Carroll\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

During the Guardian\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since Ballymena erupted in three nights of anti-migrant riots last month, tranquility has returned to the County Antrim…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":274791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5011],"tags":[1144,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-274790","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-northern-ireland","8":"tag-northern-ireland","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114880092079208630","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274790","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=274790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/274791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}