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POLICE IN NORTHERN IRELAND have said that nine officers were injured and six people were arrested during a third consecutive night of disorder in Co Antrim last night.
Petrol bombs, a hatchet and masonry were among items thrown at police during the disorder in Ballymena, with the PSNI using a water cannon, dogs and plastic baton rounds in an attempt to disperse crowds.
Riot police were deployed as hundreds gathered around the Clonavon Terrace area.
Unrest spread to other towns last night, including Coleraine and Larne – where the leisure centre was set on fire by masked vandals who also smashed windows.
The facility had temporarily been used as emergency shelter for those in urgent need following disturbances in Ballymena earlier in the week.
In a statement, the PSNI condemned the “shameful arson attack”.
“Shockingly, people were inside the building at the time of this fire – thankfully no injuries were reported – and we could have been looking at a completely different situation,” they said.
“Our enquiries remain ongoing today in relation to the circumstances surrounding the fire.”
Northern Ireland’s Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has been referred to the standards commission after he posted on social media that the leisure centre had been used to accommodate several people following the riots in Ballymena.
“As a local MLA for the area, neither I nor my DUP Council colleagues were made aware or consulted on this decision until late this afternoon,” Lyons said in a post.
He has insisted he will not resign.
Police said nine officers were injured last night, but remained on duty as they were not seriously injured.
Two men aged in their 20s and one in their 30s, along with two teenagers, were arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour and other offences in connection with the disorder.
Masked protesters blocked local roads in the Marine Highway area of Carrickfergus, which resulted in traffic disruption.
A teenager was also arrested in Newtownabbey in connection with disorder in the Station Road area.
In Coleraine, police said they received reports that a bus had been attacked, and was prevented from entering the train station.
A number of bins were also set alight on train tracks at the station, while petrol bombs were also thrown at officers. Trains and bus services were also cancelled.
“We are also investigating a fire to nearby business premises and a subsequent report that a number of young people broke into a local tyre business and added tyres to fire,” the PSNI said.
They said calm was restored to all areas at around 1am “as a result of a significant policing operation”.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said the unrest last night has caused fear and disruption within communities, including to local transport network and community services.
This criminal behaviour has no place on the streets of Northern Ireland and is completely unacceptable.
Henderson said police are working to identify all those responsible in criminal disorder, adding that those involved “will be dealt with using the full force of the law”.
He said they are gathering evidence, CCTV and other footage of last night’s unrest.
“I would strongly urge anyone who was involved in yesterday’s rioting and disorder to think long and hard about their actions and its impact. I would also appeal for calm voices and cool heads to reduce tensions.”
So far, a total of 12 individuals have been arrested for public order offences.
A 29-year-old man has been charged with riotous behaviour, disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police.
Separately, an 18-year-old man and two teenage boys, aged 15 and 17, have been charged with rioting. The 15-year-old has also been charged with criminal damage.
They are due to appear before Ballymena Magistrates Court today
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has warned the rioting “risks undermining” the criminal justice process into an allegation of a sexual assault on a teenage girl in Ballymena at the weekend.
Stormont ministers have also made an urgent appeal for calm and said the justice process had to be allowed to take its course.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly appeared together on Wednesday to voice their condemnation.
O’Neill told reporters in Belfast: “It’s pure racism, there is no other way to dress it up.”
Little-Pengelly described the scenes in Ballymena as “unacceptable thuggery”.
The violence began around Clonavon Terrace on Monday 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.
With reporting from Press Association
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