Terrified residents have put flags up outside their home windows to show their nationalities as riots broke out for a third night in Northern Ireland.
Hundreds of masked thugs attacked police and set homes and cars on fire in Ballymena this week in what police condemned as "racist thuggery."
While the presence of rioters was much smaller last night, riot police attended the town of Larne 30km west where masked youths smashed the windows of a leisure centre before starting fires in the lobby.
Meanwhile, two Filipino families told reporters they fled their home in Ballymena after fearing for their safety when their car was set on fire outside the house.
A rioter holds a brick in Ballymena
Reuters
A view shows buildings with barricaded windows, following riots in Ballymena
Reuters
Fire burns near a demonstrator as riots continue in Ballymena
Reuters
The violence flared at the start of the week after two 14-year-old boys were arrested and appeared in court on Monday, accused of a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in the town.
The charges were read via a Romanian interpreter to the boys, whose lawyer told the court that they denied the charge.
Police are investigating the damaging of properties on Monday and Tuesday in Ballymena, which has a relatively large migrant population, as racially-motivated hate crimes.
A few dozen masked youths threw some rocks, fireworks and petrol bombs at police after officers in riot gear and armoured vans blocked roads last night in Ballymena.
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A Northern Ireland flag was displayed
Reuters
Rioters in Northern Ireland
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A drone view shows riot police vehicles lined up to block a road
Reuters
Police deployed water cannon against the crowd for the second successive night but the clashes were nothing like the previous night that left 17 officers injured and led to five arrests. Much of the crowd had left the streets before midnight.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the Commons yesterday he "utterly condemns" violence which left 32 police officers injured after the second night of disturbances.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has warned the rioting “risks undermining” the criminal justice process into an allegation of a sex attack on a teenage girl in Ballymena at the weekend.
Stormont ministers have also made an urgent appeal for calm and said the justice process had to be allowed to take its course.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly appeared together on Wednesday to voice their condemnation.
O’Neill, who is also Sinn Féin vice-president, told reporters in Belfast: "It’s pure racism, there is no other way to dress it up."
Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly visits the scene
PA
Northern Irish First Minister Michelle O'Neill
PADUP MLA and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly met residents in the town on Wednesday and said the local community are in fear and wanted the violence to stop.
She said: "The key message here today is around that violence, and that the violence needs to stop, that’s what the community wants to put across, and that’s why I’m here to send that very clear and united message from right throughout the community and local residents for that to stop."
With the protests focused in predominantly loyalist areas in Ballymena, First Minister O’Neill said she did not believe it would be helpful for her to visit in the current context.
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