Emma Little-Pengelly meets residents in Ballymena after rioting
The DUP deputy first minister has been on the streets of Ballymena today meeting with residents affected by the two nights of rioting in the town.
She was in Clonavon Terrace and the surrounding area, which have been the epicentre of disorder on Monday and Tuesday.
She had earlier tweeted out: “Dismayed to see further disorder last night. Violence is always wrong.”
When the News Letter visited today, a dozen properties just on Clonavon Terrace were boarded up or cordoned off due to rioting.
Ms Little-Pengelly described the scenes in Ballymena as “unacceptable thuggery”, adding: “We’ve been in contact with the chief constable, and in constant contact with the PSNI throughout last night in terms of what was happening on the ground.
“I think today is about sending a very clear message that violence is wrong, it is entirely unacceptable. It must stop…
"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, Sinn Fein first minister Michelle O’Neill said she did not believe a visit by her would prove helpful in the current context.
Meanwhile, Labour frontbencher Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent said today the scenes of disorder in Ballymena had “no place” in Northern Ireland and branded the attacks on police officers “wholly unacceptable”.
Responding to an urgent question in Parliament following a second night of disturbances in the Co Antrim town, she said that Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn hoped to visit the area in the coming days.
Lady Anderson was joined by other peers at Westminster in condemning “the appalling acts of racist thuggery” seen on the streets of Ballymena.
But she also heard concerns that the PSNI does not have enough officers and faced calls for additional funding.
Police said their officers came under sustained attack over a number of hours in Ballymena on Tuesday night, with petrol bombs, heavy masonry, bricks and fireworks hurled at them.
The PSNI deployed riot police, fired plastic baton rounds and used water cannon as well as dog units as part of its response to the disturbances.
Police also reported “sporadic disorder” occurred in Newtownabbey and Carrickfergus, as well as incidents in north Belfast.
It came after similar violent disorder around Clonavon Terrace in Ballymena on Monday night, following an earlier peaceful protest which was organised in support of the family of a girl who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault in the area. Two teenage boys, who spoke to a court through a Romanian interpreter, have been charged.
Lady Anderson said: “The recent scenes of civil disorder which we have seen in Ballymena have no place in Northern Ireland.
“The attacks on police officers as they work to keep people safe and on property are wholly unacceptable.
“I would like to express my sincere thanks to the PSNI, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service and the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service, who have worked in difficult conditions over the past few days to keep people safe.
“My thoughts and prayers are with those officers still receiving treatment, and with the communities across Northern Ireland who woke up this morning very scared.”
The minister told the Lords: “Members would have seen, as I have, horrendous images of what’s actually happened within the community.
“This is not something that is now going to be solved tomorrow.
“Community engagement efforts will have to continue for months and years to rebuild what has been broken over the last 24 hours.”
She added: “Northern Ireland Office officials have been meeting and engaging with community groups and will continue to do so.”
She welcomed the funding of £11 million announced by the Chancellor in Wednesday’s spending review for community cohesion projects in Northern Ireland.
Former Northern Ireland minister Lord Caine said: “We too condemn unreservedly the appalling acts of racist thuggery in Ballymena for which there can be not a single shred of justification.
“There is nothing remotely British about wrapping oneself in the Union flag, attacking migrants, forcing people from their homes and scapegoating entire communities anywhere in the United Kingdom.”
Former police ombudsman for Northern Ireland Baroness O’Loan said: “I live in Ballymena and it’s awful to see what happened there. I think it must have taken enormous courage for officers to face the petrol bombs and other missiles which were hurled at them.
“I salute that courage, and I condemn absolutely what happened on the streets of our town.”