Police attacked as Northern Irish violence spreads

13/6/2025 6:25

Rioters

attacked police with petrol bombs, rocks and fireworks in the

Northern Irish town of Portadown on Thursday, a Reuters witness

said, as a fourth night of anti-immigrant violence moved to a

different part of the British-run province.



Violence first flared on Monday after two 14-year-old boys

were arrested and appeared in court, accused of a serious sexual

assault on a teenage girl in the town. The charges were read via

a Romanian interpreter to the boys, whose lawyer told the court

they denied the charge, the BBC reported.



One of a number of anti-immigration protests on Thursday was

held in Portadown, 50 kilometres from the capital Belfast. A

large policing operation of officers in riot gear and armoured

vans closed off a number of roads in advance.



Debris was strewn across streets and wheelie bins were set

on fire.



Other protests passed off without major incident, including

in Ballymena, the primary flashpoint of the first two nights of

more intense violence, local media reported.



Paul Frew, a member of the regional assembly from Ballymena,

said that while some people gathered on the streets again amidst

a big police presence, it was much quieter and that heavy

rainfall had helped keep people away.



"Hopefully we're through the worst of it," Frew, a member of

the Democratic Unionist Party, told the BBC.