Riots in Northern Ireland. 60 policemen with injuries, call meals
“I don't know how long I can live here.” That's what they mean to drive me out of here-says 32-year-old social worker Elena in her living room with killed boards windows at Clonavon Terrace in Ballymena. Nearby there are immigrant houses from Romania, Bulgaria and the Philippines, which have already been attacked and are now empty.
According to the Public Housing Agency in Northern Ireland, at least 14 immigrant families, mainly from the city of Ballymena, escaped from their homes and received emergency accommodation in other places. Over 60 policemen were injured in clashes with riot participants.
Such racism, intimidating and violence, became a recurring problem in Northern Ireland, the least ethnically diverse corner of Great Britain, where a 30-year conflict between British Unionists and Irish nationalists, known as “The Troubles” [ang. Kłopoty]ended with an agreement a quarter of a century ago.
Police in full readiness opposite the protesters during anti -immigration demonstrations in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025.
Since then, immigration from outside Great Britain and Ireland has increased from virtually zero to about 6.5 percent. population.
News from Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa were easiest to find flats in the poorest districts of the British Unionist community, where illegal paramilitary gangs killed Catholics for decades, trying to stop “strangers” from settling in their territory marked with the flag of Great Britain.
These so -called loyalistic groups, mainly Ulster Defense Association (Uds) and Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), killed hundreds of Catholic civilians before they announced a joint arms suspension in 1994. However, to this day they maintain combat and xenophobic control over many Protestant workers' communities, where subsequent generations of alienated young people sporadically attack new goals, especially in riots related to Brexit in 2021 and against immigrants last summer.
What you can't tolerate
This cycle repeated on Monday, when two 14-year-old boys stood in court on charges of attempted rape on a girl from Ballymena. Both boys, using the help of a Romanian translator, denied the allegations.
Graffiti with the inscription “Roma Rapists Out” (“Down with Roma rapists”) after the second night of the anti -immigrant demonstration in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 11, 2025.
That evening, hundreds of protesters gathered in a nearby parking lot, so that, as the girl's father said, “show anger about what cannot be tolerated in this city.”
While the family and others appealed for the peaceful course of protest, dozens of men and teenagers leaving the assembly began to attack nearby houses inhabited by immigrants. Many attackers put on masks to hinder identification on police recordings.
The overloaded police forces of Northern Ireland spent the last four nights in stopping the participants of the riots in Ballymena, but immigrants and police were attacked in several other cities with strong unionist traditions and in at least three Belfast districts, the capital of the region.
As during the racist attacks of last summer, the head of Northern Ireland police Jon Boutcher asked for meals to other police services in Great Britain. About 80 officers from the Scottish police have already arrived and the weekend will go out into the streets.
The leaders of the Intestinal Government of Northern Ireland – susceptible to the crises of the foundation of the peace agreement of 1998 – tried to create an atmosphere of unity on Friday during the previously planned summit with the Irish Government and other regional authorities of Great Britain. However, behind the scenes are the tension between the main parties dividing power, Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), a potentially explosive coalition of extreme forces.
The first minister Michelle O'Neill of Sinn Fein renewed the call of one of her colleagues from the ass, minister for community Gordon Lyons, to resign because of his entries in social media, in which he indicated the place of shelter for immigrants escaping from Ballimen – a sports center in Lyons's constituency. Shortly afterwards, a 100-member crowd of masked people attacked the center, terrified people inside, but did not hurt anyone.
– Four nights in a row on our streets something completely unacceptable. I hope that we will all strongly oppose these phenomena and say “not” racism in our society – said O'Neill.
However, in Ballymena, a traditional fort fortress, The social group on Facebook calls residents to register their properties as occupied by the natives, so that they would not be the target of vandals.
A building with posted flags of Great Britain in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, June 12, 2025.
Elena, who did not want to give her name because she does not want to be recognized on social media, said Politico that she wants to put the Flag of Great Britain on her door in the hope that she would protect herself this weekend. Her neighbor who was born in Ireland tries to get this flag for her.
I am a babysitter. I probably look after grandparents, aunts or uncles of some of those hooligans who demolish the homes of other people – she said. – I should not be forced to wrap myself in a flag to live here.
