Homes, cars torched in Northern Ireland's Ballymena amid escalating unrest - VIDEO
Violence erupted for a second consecutive night in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, where homes and vehicles were set ablaze amid escalating unrest.
Police described the disorder as "racist thuggery" after facing attacks from rioters who launched petrol bombs, fireworks, and glass bottles at officers, News.Az reports, citing The Independent.
Rioters smashed windows and damaged the doors of homes in Clonavon Terrace, where disorder first broke out on Monday at a peaceful protest.
Two homes, which suffered significant smoke damage, remained sealed off on Tuesday. Damage was caused to a nearby property while a woman and two children were still inside and the windows of several business units were smashed in the area.
The violence originally flared at a vigil in support of the family of a teenage girl who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault in the town at the weekend. Two 14-year-old boys appeared in court on Monday, charged with attempted rape. The charges were read to the teenagers by a Romanian interpreter.
Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it had made a third arrest in connection with their investigation into the serious sexual assault on Monday evening, a 28-year-old man who was unconditionally released from police custody following questioning. They continued their appeal for more information.
Riot police were deployed around the Clonavon Terrace area on Tuesday night as hundreds of people gathered in the Co Antrim town. PSNI vehicles formed barricades on some roads while riot police wearing armour and carrying shields stood nearby.
Police fired less-than-lethal rounds at some of those gathered and also used a water cannon to disperse the crowd. Calm was restored to the town around 1am, the force said, but they reported sporadic disorder in Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus, with some incidents in north Belfast.
The scenes of violence, which left 15 police injured and two police vehicles damaged on Monday, were described as "racist thuggery" by a senior officer.
The peaceful vigil began on Monday around 7.30pm, heading towards the Clonavon Terrace area of Ballymena. Police were present due to the large number of people who had gathered when a number of masked individuals broke away from the gathering and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties in the Clonavon Terrace vicinity.
Members of the crowd turned on to police and attacked officers with petrol bombs and masonry as the disorder continued in the nearby vicinity of Galgorm Street, Linenhall Street, as well as Larne Road Link near the Braid.
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