Ballymena

The rioting might very well spread further now. Marching season approaches also.

Back to the future if the army is called in. I shudder to think of the reaction to that. I believe the army would be considered to be OK to Loyalists, but if the violence spreads to Nationalist areas, well it doesn't bear thinking about the consequences for everyone.

Has there been any statement or comment from First Minister O'Neill yet? Can you imagine the diplomacy needed from her side of the fence about this? Even though she represents both sides, of course.

God bless anyone there. I think we need the army at this point.

And sure aren’t they burning Larne Leisure Centre down as I type.

I despair.

The Troubles haven't really gone away you know.

Any country with that kind of history, i.e. violence against either Protestant/Loyalist or Catholic/Nationalist has to leave big scars and perhaps a residue of a culture of sectarianism.

Maybe the lid is coming off something that has been largely quiet and perhaps suppressed since the Good Friday Agreement. It seems to be blowing up again now against "foreigners" instead of against the political/religious affiliations of the other side.

FWIW I think NI is a bit of a basket case. The vast majority of whatever jobs that exist are public sector. There is on the surface anyway in the larger towns and cities a lovely welcoming and very friendly people, however any city that needs a massive hulk of a Berlin type Peace Wall down its centre to separate the factions will not have a happy history or future. That, my friends is Belfast, and who would believe that in this day and age, but it's real.

Oh good, we needed more bigoted stereotyping on this thread!

As usual, it's worth reading Slugger for the comments and the articles.

https://sluggerotoole.com/2025/06/10/riots-in-ballymena-following-anti-immigration-protest/

https://sluggerotoole.com/2025/06/11/second-night-of-mindless-violence/

Yeah. That would explain why they smashed in the windows of the white British woman interviewed in the Irish Times. Obviously being English isn't British enough.

Is their trauma in Romania? Are they at war?

Not condoning it. Just saying it's a reality. People have continually voted for lower immigration and just get more and higher levels. When you've exhausted all democratic means and are still ignored then civil unrest is inevitable

Petrol bombing those people - people who are part of the community, like or not - will achieve what? What do they even want to achieve? And why are they using a rape as the vehicle for it?

'People have had enough' is no justification or explanation, it's a bullshit soundbite, let's face it.

Their communities becoming unrecognisable by infinite levels of immigration.

Enough of what? Not rape, because they normally don't give a shit. Not any other kind of sexual assault, precious little was said about Jeffrey Donaldson. What have they had enough of that they're using rape as a vehicle to express?

People have had enough.

More 'protests' tonight, all loyalist areas.

Innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, not on social media 🙄

wrt Ballymena, and other places with a large loyalist populations, the drug gang factor has to be kept in mind. Non-locals, whether that means Catholics born three miles away, people from RoI or GB, or people from elsewhere in the world, are going to be outside of the societal control of the gang leaders, so they have to be moved out. Presumably the giant territory-marking bonfires are already being built, with the most dangerous work reserved for people the gangs think owe them something.

Partly a result of not just failure of policing over 50 years, but also of a deliberate policy of policing and nurturing divisions. I feel very sorry for outsiders moved into dangerous areas, I feel very very sorry for decent locals who don't want to live in communities controlled by thugs.

Then why did you agree with this:

Ime NI really is incredibly backwards once you get away from the obvious tourist areas.

I never said it was backwards, or that Irish people aren't well travelled? Stepping back in time just means that places haven't changed much over the years. My MIL left her village in Ireland at 19, and is now nearly 80, and says its like she has never been away every time she goes back. That's not a negative, many people like that it has stayed the same.

Then you missed quite a lot including the OP who started out by demanding that the two boys be deported (and their familities too). There were many posts that assumed the guilt of the pair. In the UK that is contempt of court when published. And not exactly a British value, although oddly there's just so many people who think that the only people who should respect British values are those who aren't born in the UK.

Edited to add that I note this thread has, rightly, also been culled.

It's not even a place for non Irish people to settle! My brother moved there with his wife who was Irish, and has encountered significant challenges getting a job. He only started to get interviews when he put his wife's very obviously Irish surname on his CV, and then when they met him it was a no. He never had issues in getting a job in England, and has ended up doing a remote job for an English company, but from Ireland. It may be partly due to the financial climate and fewer job opportunities being available, but it does feel like there was an element of prejudice as his wife who works in same field and similar skill level walked straight into a job.

With most primary schools still being either protestant or Catholic, it does still feel quite divided and less tolerant of those seen as "outsiders'. My husband would live to move back but the chances of me getting a job there are very slim.

I didn’t see much about the minors it was mostly talking about a misconception on NI ROI border.

There's old fashioned and there's 'backwards'. Ireland isn't backwards and people are no more regressive than anywhere else. Many Irish are very well travelled.

@EasternStandard
Almost certainly because - as with some earlier posts on here - because too many posters were making assumptions about the guilt of two minors who have been convicted of nothing. People are innocent until proven guilty, not innocent unless some random MN posters have decided otherwise. It's supposed to be a "British value".

Quite coincidentally I just finished "The Vanishing Triangle" https://www.amazon.co.uk/Vanishing-Triangle-Murdered-Ireland-Forgot/dp/1542035295 I wish it were out of date, but it isn't. There may be a border, but when it comes to it, there are too many similarities, and that border has protected too many offenders. I'm sure those rioting of the streets would never dream of attacking a women. Unless she looked foreign, or dressed funny, or was asking for it, or.....

Notice the subtle hints that two tribes have come together in this and the attempted rewriting of history. Are there many nationalists left in Harryville? Remember what that community went through from their neighbours. Most of them moved away following the many attacks on their homes and church. A church which had to be pulled down as it wasn't safe for the Catholic community to continue attending. People were threatened with women singled out for 'special' treatment.

No. I can no longer go to local parks now in the evening with my dog, with fear of being blocked out of my road. Nothing to do with getting jumped and attacked (although my dog would rip their head off anyhow)