Twenty-nine arrests made over recent disorder in Northern Ireland

Twenty-nine people have now been arrested over violence that erupted in Northern Ireland over the last week and police have warned that there will be further arrests.

In total, 64 police officers have been injured in disturbances which started last Monday after a peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault in Ballymena, County Antrim, and later spread to other areas.

In the latest round of arrests, five people have been detained in connection with disorder in Ballymena and Larne.

A 40-year-old man, a 33-year-old woman and a 13-year-old girl have been charged in connection with the rioting in Ballymena.

Detectives investigating online posts relating to the disorder have charged a 32-year-old man with sending menacing messages through a public electronic communications network and encouraging or assisting offences.

Meanwhile, a 25-year-old man has also been arrested in relation to an arson attack at Larne Leisure Centre last week.

The centre had been providing emergency shelter for families following the clashes earlier this week, the council said.

A 56-year-old woman has also appeared in court charged with obstructing a police officer during last week’s riots.

Violence first broke out in Ballymena after two teenage boys appeared before Coleraine Magistrates’ Court accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

They spoke through an interpreter in Romanian to confirm their names and ages.

Their solicitor said they would be denying the charges.

A peaceful protest was held on 9 June, but after it dispersed rioting broke out.

North West Migrants’ Forum integration and welfare officer Gaelle Gormley said the violence was “absolutely horrific”.

“Our service users are very concerned, we are very concerned,” she said.

“We are really, really worried that it will also come to the centre of Derry. It’s outrageous.”

There was some violence in the city on Friday, but not on the same scale as Ballymena.

Ms Gormley said migrants were “very resilient” but at the moment they were avoiding going out late at night and avoiding certain streets.

She called for people to show their support.

“We want more people who are welcoming and aware of the fact that we are all citizens of the world and that everybody can be a migrant anywhere,” she said.

“Since the beginning of humanity people have been going to different countries and it’s thanks to that that we have all the progress we have.”

Sameh Hassan, chairman of North West Islamic Association, said many immigrants were scared to go out, while others had left their homes to go to safer places.

“It’s unfair for anyone to feel unsafe in their house, especially people who have kids and families,” he said.

“Feeling unsafe about your family is the worst thing you could experience.”

Mr Hassan said he had lived in Northern Ireland for 17 years and had found people “very welcoming”.

However he said there were some issues, such as housing and jobs, that were causing “anti-migrant sentiment” and needed “to be addressed in the right way”.

He added that the spread of misinformation on social media was “very misleading”.

Police said there had been “sporadic disturbances” in different locations on Sunday night but described it as a “reduced level of disorder”.

Overnight graffiti in Bangor, County Down and on an unoccupied house in Chadwick Street in south Belfast are being treated as race-motivated hate crimes, the police said.

In Brompton Park in Ardoyne, in Belfast, about 30 young people set a bin on fire but no damage was caused to shops and police said “no serious disorder ensued”.

Ass Ch Cons Melanie Jones said “Our 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.

“Thankfully, none of our officers policing this disorder reported being injured on duty last night (Sunday).”

Police have already circulated images of individuals they want to identify and interview.