Hundreds of masked rebels attacked police and set fire to houses and cars in the Northern Irish town of Ballymina on Tuesday on the second night of riots following a protest over alleged sexual assault in the town, UNN writes, citing Reuters.
Details
Police said they were dealing with "serious riots" in the town, which is about 45 km from the capital Belfast, and urged people to avoid the area.
Officers in protective gear and driving armored vans responded with water cannons and plastic batons after being attacked with Molotov cocktails, scaffolding and stones, which the rioters collected by knocking down nearby walls, a Reuters eyewitness said.
One house burned down, the eyewitness added. Several cars were set on fire and one lay overturned in flames as police sirens roared across the city after midnight.
Additions
Four houses were damaged by fire, and windows and doors were smashed in other houses and businesses on the first night of rioting on Monday, which police are investigating as racially motivated attacks.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Ballymena earlier on Monday in response to the case of two teenagers who appeared in court that day on charges of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the County Antrim town. Local media reported that the charges were read to the teenagers through an interpreter.
Fifteen police officers were injured on Monday, some requiring hospitalization.