Violence has flared for a second night in a Northern Irish town after "racially motivated" attacks sparked by the arrest of two teenagers accused of the attempted rape of a young girl.
Hundreds of protestors, many of them masked, took to the streets of Ballymena on Tuesday, throwing petrol bombs and masonry as police responded with water cannon.
There was a heavy police presence in one area of the town, some 48 kilometres northwest of Belfast, as the protesters set fire to a car and barricades. Police also fired plastic baton rounds to disperse the crowds.
The unrest first erupted on Monday night after a vigil in a neighbourhood where an alleged serious sexual assault had happened on Saturday.
"This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police," Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said on Tuesday.
Tensions in the town, which has a large migrant population, remained high throughout the day on Tuesday, as residents described the scenes as "terrifying" and said those involved were targeting "foreigners".
"Hate attacks"
Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attempted rape of a teenage girl, had appeared in court Monday, where they asked for a Romanian interpreter, local media reports said.
The trouble began when masked people "broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties", police said.
Houses and businesses were attacked, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said, adding it was investigating "hate attacks".
Security forces also came under "sustained attack" with petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks thrown by rioters, injuring 15 officers, including some who required hospital treatment, according to the force.
One 29-year-old man was arrested and charged with riotous behaviour, disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police.
Four houses were damaged by fire, and windows and doors of homes and businesses were smashed.
Cornelia Albu, 52, a Romanian migrant and mother of two who lives opposite a house targeted in the attacks, said her family had been "very scared".
"Last night it was crazy because too many people came here and tried to set the house on fire," Albu, who works in a factory, said.
She said she would now have to move but was worried she would not find another place to live because she was Romanian.
“Scared as hell”
A 22-year-old woman who lives next door to a burnt-out house in the same Clonavon neighbourhood said the night had been "terrifying".
"People were going after foreigners, whoever they were, or how innocent they were," the woman, who did not want to share her name for security reasons, said.
"But there were local people indoors down the street, scared as hell."
Northern Ireland saw racism-fuelled disorder in August after similar riots in English towns and cities triggered by the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, northwest England.
According to Mark, 24, who did not share his last name, the alleged rape on the weekend was "just a spark".
