Northern Ireland: Romani immigrants targeted with six days of racist violence by far-right paramilitaries, Romani NGOs demand protection and that they be involved in addressing this issue
The BBC reports that Northern Ireland has been shaken by an entire week of massive anti-immigrant unrest that began on 9 June in the town of Ballymena in County Antrim and gradually spread to other parts of the country. The police say the violence was racially motivated and primarily targeted ethnic minorities, in particular the Romani community.
A total of 64 police officers have been injured, 29 people have been arrested, and many cities have been affected including Belfast, Larne, and Portadown. The situation did not start to calm until 14 June.
The incident was launched by the trial of two 14-year-old boys who are accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl. Both denied the charges in court, speaking through an interpreter.
After a peaceful assembly was held that same evening in Ballymena at the site of the alleged assault, violence escalated – rioters attacked the households of immigrants, the police officers who responded, and public property. In the Clonavon Terrace quarter buildings were set on fire, cars destroyed, shop windows smashed, and 15 officers injured.
The unrest continued over the next few days. On 10 June another 17 police officers were injured in Ballymena and the protests spread to Belfast, Carrickfergus, and Coleraine.
In the town of Larne a leisure center was set on fire that had served as an emergency shelter for migrants fleeing Ballymena. Yoga students also had to flee the building who were inside at the time.
On 11 June another nine injured officers were added to the list as armed transport carriers, police from other parts of Great Britain, and water cannon were deployed. Reportedly demonstrators used bricks, machetes, and Molotov cocktails against them.
On 12 June the violence moved to Portadown, where 22 officers were injured. Attacks also happened in Carrickfergus, Derry, Newry and other towns.
Hateful attacks targeted mainly Romani families
News server Romea.cz has learned that the violence most often targeted Romani households. These people had to flee their homes in Northern Ireland to save their very lives.
Calls continued to spread for more and more attacks and some buildings were intentionally labeled as targets. According to the Romani organizations, Romani men and women in Northern Ireland now feel “paralyzed with fear”.
Police are investigating these assaults as racially motivated hate crimes. “I condemn the acts of violence we saw tonight in Ballymena and other parts of Northern Ireland, mainly those against police,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told Parliament.
Northern Ireland’s Secretary of State Hilary Benn had previously criticized the violence. “I utterly condemn the terrible scenes of civil disorder in Ballymena…. There is no place for this kind of violence in Northern Ireland,” he posted to X.
Northern Ireland’s Prime Minister Michelle O’Neill called the assaults “racist” and Justice Minister Naomi Long called them “absolutely unjustified”. However, other political representatives were repeating narratives about allegedly “illegal” migration in relation to the violence which contributed to disseminating the hatred, according to experts.
Romani organizations reject the racist principle of collective guilt
Union Romani Voice issued a statement on 15 June sharply condemning remarks by some politicians, including Nigel Farage, who alleged that “Roma never manage to integrate”. “Such allegations bolster harmful stereotypes and incite fear and prejudice. They overshadow the experiences and stories of thousands of Romani men and women who live peaceful lives, work, and actively contribute to the communities in which they live,” the statement read.
“We reject the allegation that an entire ethnicity should be held responsible for the actions of individuals,” said Union Romani Voice. “Such logic leads not to understanding, but to hatred.”
Union Romani Voice also reminded the public that “Romani communities are diverse, comprising teachers, caregivers, entrepreneurs, and parents. They want what any other family does: Safety, dignity, and a future for their children.”
The organization has called for active solidarity, for ethnic profiling to be rejected, and for news reporting on their community to be performed responsibly: “We stand for every Romani child who proudly goes to school and for every Romani parent who works hard to give their children a better life.” According to local observers, the unrest did not end until 14 June, when just a few isolated incidents of smaller scope were reported transpiring.
Police have announced that the situation has started to stabilize, although tensions in communities remain high.
Organized groups, not “fear of migration”, behind the violence
Sociologists and others are warning that the violence has happened primarily in areas of Northern Ireland where loyalist groups are significantly active, not in locales with higher migrant numbers or in poorer regions. Therefore, the unrest is apparently not a “spontaneous” reaction to the migrant presence, but rather the result of targeted activity by groups which have radicalized and exploited the frustration of residents, redirecting it toward immigrants, often in the context of local, long-term resistance to the Northern Ireland peace process.
Daniel Holder, director of the independent human rights group Committee on the Administration of Justice in Belfast, told news server Al Jazeera that this latest unrest followed a “fairly familiar pattern…. What we noticed… is that [protests are] all being called and taking place in areas where there is significant loyalist activity,” and are featuring a “degree of paramilitary control.”
Romani and other immigrant communities are currently calling for protection and for involving them in the management of this crisis. Representatives of Romani organizations are demanding a direct voice in meetings on their future living conditions and security arrangements in Northern Ireland.
