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London – Hundreds of masked protesters attacked the officers during a second night of “disturbances and disorder” in the city of Ballymena in Northern Ireland, on Tuesday, wounding 17 officers, according to the police. The Northern Ireland police sentenced the riots on Wednesday, saying that 32 officers had been injured in total since the disorder, according to the reports, an explosion of racial tension over low heat, was caused by an alleged sexual assault in the city.

“The meaningless violence witnessed in the last two nights in Ballymena is deeply worrying and completely unacceptable,” said police chief Jon Boutcher in a statement. “The acts fed with hate and the Government of the mafia do nothing more than tear the fabric of our society. They do not solve anything and do not serve anyone.”

At least five people were arrested during the night, since four houses were damaged by fires and the protesters broke homes and businesses, according to the News themezone network, BBC News.

“Police officers were under a sustained attack for several hours with multiple gasoline bombs, heavy masonry, bricks and fireworks in their direction,” said the Northern Ireland police service in a statement.

The protests began only a few hours after two 14 -year -old children appeared in a court on Monday due to the alleged sexual assault of a teenager in the city. BBC News said the children had communicated through a Romanian interpreter.

Ballymena has a large immigrant population, according to the News news agency.

The residents described violence as “terrifying” and told News that “foreigners” were being attacked.

A Romanian resident in Ballymena told him Tuesday the Irish Times newspaper that had put a British flag in his front window to avoid being attacked.

Northern Ireland legislator Paul Frew told BBC Radio that he feared that violence could become deadly, saying that the tension in the city had been increasing for a while, and people were “scared by illegal immigration.”

There has been no confirmed information about the immigration state of adolescents who appeared in court on Monday.

• Immigration
• Riot
• Great Britain
• Northern Ireland
• Protest
• Migrants
• United Kingdom
• Racism