Immigration concerns raised in Assembly after 'despicable' violence in Ballymena targeting Roma homes

Hundreds of residents, including some local politicians, attended a rally held after a sexual assault on a teenage girl in the town at the weekend.

On Monday, two boys appeared before Coleraine magistrates' court accused of sexually assaulting the girl. The pair spoke through a Romanian interpreter to confirm their names and ages – with their solicitor telling the court they would be denying the allegations.

The rally, held in the town on Monday evening, descended into violence, with windows smashed in six houses – and two set on fire. Fifteen police officers were injured in the disorder which went on for a number of hours.

The violence was condemned by all parties in the Assembly during a debate the morning after the violence.

On Tuesday morning, the MP for the area Jim Allister criticised what he called “the failure of successive authorities to manage integration or address local concerns” – which he said had left many residents feeling “ignored and disrespected”.

The North Antrim MP also highlighted “rapid demographic change” in the area – which he said had been driven by “the influx of Roma” into Ballymena in recent years.

His comments prompted criticism from the Leader of the Opposition Matthew O’Toole who called the remarks “disgraceful”. The SDLP MLA criticised the TUV MP for “talking about the context for violence and conflating a whole range of issues in a way that is deeply irresponsible and deeply unhelpful”.

However, Mr Allister’s colleague, North Antrim MLA Timothy Gaston, repeated his party’s concerns about immigration during a debate on the matter in the Assembly on Tuesday morning.

“Some people in this house may not want to hear it, and you can't say you haven't been warned, but there is deep concern in parts of Ballymena about the significant demographic change in recent years.

“Particularly due to resettlement of Roma families, often arriving in large numbers from the Republic of Ireland. Those changes have created tensions, tensions that have not been acknowledged, addressed or discussed. These have often been ridiculed in this house.

“They have been allowed to fester. The tragic events in this past weekend have brought these tensions to a head.

“Let me be absolutely clear, I deplore racism, I abhor violence, but I also care about community. I care about cohesion. I care about respect, respect for the values, the identity and the traditions of the people who built the communities I am proud to represent in this chamber”, Mr Gaston said.

Mr Gaston also condemned the violence, saying the actions of a few individuals – many of them not from Ballymena – had “caused further pain to innocent people”.

DUP MLA Trevor Clarke, who sits on the Policing Board, condemned the violence as “despicable” and raised the issue of police officers injured during the disorder.

The South Antrim MLA said: “as the night unfolded, there's been more victims” and that ten officers had been injured doing a day's work.

He said the officers “put themselves in the front line to try and restore calm and order in the streets of Ballymena last night, and unfortunately, ten of those officers were either hospitalised or went home with injuries”.

Mr Clarke said the violence needs to “stop quickly before this gets out of hand”.

Ulster Unionist MLA Colin Crawford said he had attended the peaceful march in the town to show his “support and solidarity, not only with the young girl who was sexually assaulted at the weekend past, but also with other young girls and women in previous weeks”.

The North Antrim MLA said that “justice must be delivered in the court and not on our streets” and that “we must never allow anger to spill over into violence”.

Sian Mulholland – who brought the discussion to the Assembly – paid tribute to the “young girl that is at the heart of this” – saying the peaceful protest had been “sparked by a legitimate concern” but said “emotion was quickly overtaken by violence, destruction and fear”.

The Alliance MLA said that there is “absolutely no place for this kind of behaviour in our society”.