People were drinking openly. The smell of weed hung in the air. It did not feel like protest. It felt like a Saturday night that had gone wrong. Drunken energy, looking for release.”

For a third night, riots rocked the town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland, with protesters throwing petrol bombs.

Public disorder broke out in Northern Ireland for the third successive night on Wednesday with videos and pictures on social media purportedly showing a fire in a leisure center in the town of Larne after masked youths smashed the building’s windows.

Disorder has broken out in Northern Ireland for the third successive night, after police said people are "waking up with genuine fear for their lives" following two nights of violence in Ballymena and other areas.

Some 63 police officers have been injured in what has been called a “ week of shame ” in Northern Ireland. Disorder started in Ballymena on Monday after an alleged sexual assault of a girl in the Co Antrim town at the weekend, and continued throughout the week.

Rioters livestreamed themselves burning down a house on TikTok during a second night of racially motivated disorder in Northern Ireland.

Petrol bombs were thrown at police for a fifth consecutive night in Northern Ireland, in what has been dubbed a “week of shame” for the region.

Northern Ireland police say violence in the town of Ballymena, reportedly fueled by racial tension, have left 32 officers injured.

A Romanian in Ballymena has claimed he has “lost everything” after he was wrongly arrested for the attempted rape of a schoolgirl. He spoke after riots broke out in the Northern Ireland town following the appearance in court of two 14-year-old boys charged with attempted rape and who required a Romanian interpreter.