Police arrests dampen down violent extremists following serious racially-motivated disorder
The Police Service of Northern Ireland despite being over-stretched has made 31 arrests to date relating to recent racially-motivated disorder, it has been confirmed.
From these arrests, there have been 23 people charged in connection with the disorder across Northern Ireland last week.
The disorder has had a ripple affect touching on many communities from Belfast to Derry outside the hotspots of Ballymena, Portadown and Larne and a recent protest in Downpatrick showed there was no room for this sort of political extremism in the county town.
Officers investigating the arson which caused significant damage to Larne Leisure Centre on Wednesday, 11th June, have charged a 25-year-old man with perverting the course of justice. He is due before Ballymena Magistrates’ Court today, Tuesday, 17th June.
Meanwhile, police investigating disorder in Portadown on Thursday 12th June charged two men. A 37-year-old man was charged with two counts of riot and appeared at Lisburn Magistrates’ Court on Monday 16th June and a 32-year-old man was charged with one count of riot and is to appear at Craigavon Magistrates’ Court today, Tuesday 17th June.
Some protests were noted in Belfast’s Shankill and Shore Roads and Clonavon Terrace and Waveney Road in Ballymena on Monday night, 16th June, which were largely peaceful.
In Derry/ Londonderry, there was some disorder in the Nailors Row area last night, from around 9.30pm to midnight, with masonry and fireworks used to attack police.
Three officers were injured – two officers were struck by masonry and one officer was struck by a firework. An 18-year-old male was arrested on suspicion of riotous behaviour and bailed to allow further enquiries to be conducted.
Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said: “Recent days have been calmer. However, this does not mean our investigations into those responsible for the racially-motivated attacks will lose momentum. We are continuing to review our evidence gathered over the days of disorder and are robustly investigating the disorder. We will be making more arrests and delivering justice to those responsible for these racially-motivated attacks and associated posts on social media.
“Our heightened presence in towns and cities and engagement will continue as we work to keep people safe.
“Everyone deserves to feel safe on our streets. So, just as we will seek justice for women and girls who report heinous crimes to us, we will also seek justice for local innocent families who are being targeted by criminality fuelled by hate.
“We will continue to robustly investigate the disorder over the last number of days but do not want to see any more young people criminalised by being caught up in this activity.”
A number of images have been released of individuals police want to identify and speak to in connection with the ongoing investigation.
“If you are able to identify any of the people shown in these images or can provide information about them you should contact us on 101 or on our major incident portal, which is accessible on our website.”
Photos and footage, including CCTV, mobile phone or dash cam footage, can be shared with police through the Major Incident Public Portal at:
https://mipp.police.uk/operation/PSNI25U11-PO1
A report can be submitted online using the non-emergency reporting form via:
http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/
Or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at :
