BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland (Reuters) -Rioters threw petrol bombs and other missiles at police in the Northern Irish town of Ballymena in the second successive night of disorder that followed a protest over an alleged sexual assault in the town, police and local media said on Tuesday.
Police said they were dealing with “serious disorder” in a part of the town, which is about 45 km (30 miles) from the capital Belfast, and urged people to avoid the area.
Officers responded by using water cannon against the rioters, a video posted on social media by a journalist from the Belfast Telegraph showed. Separate protests also blocked off some roads in Belfast, a Reuters witness said.
Fifteen police officers were injured, with some requiring hospital treatment, after they came under sustained attack for a number of hours on Monday when masked people broke from the protest to build barricades and attack properties.
Four houses were damaged by fire and windows and doors were smashed in other homes and businesses, in what police said they are investigating as racially-motivated hate attacks.
Hundreds of protesters gathered in Ballymena on Monday in response to a case involving two teenage boys who appeared in court earlier in the day, accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the County Antrim town.
Local media reported that the charges were read to the teenagers via an interpreter.
(Reporting by Amanda Ferguson and Clodagh Kilcoyne; Writing by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
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