Three nights of disorder and destruction on the streets of Northern Ireland is not what the region is about, the Secretary of State has said.
Hilary Benn described scenes as “shocking” after Wednesday saw a third consecutive night of disorder in Ballymena, with petrol bombs, a hatchet and masonry among items thrown at police.
Officers responded with water cannon, dogs and plastic baton rounds in an attempt to disperse crowds in the Co Antrim town.
Unrest spread to other towns on Wednesday, including Coleraine and Larne – where the leisure centre was set on fire by masked vandals who also smashed windows.
Mr Benn said there is “absolutely no justification for civil disorder”.
He told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme: “This not what Northern Ireland is about, this is not what we want the rest of the world to see.
“We all, as elected representatives, have a responsibility to seek to calm things down, to support those in the community trying to keep people safe, principally the PSNI, to work with community leaders to lower tensions.
“Whatever views people hold, there is no justification for trying to burn people out of their homes, that is what is going on, and that is what needs to stop because it is shocking and damaging, and it reflects very badly of the image of Northern Ireland that we all want to send to the rest of the world.”
Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long said it has been a “three-day festival of hate and destruction” which needs to stop before someone loses their life.
She said she will be seeking additional funding for the PSNI in the June Monitoring Round.
She also commended the PSNI for seeking support through a mutual aid request for additional officers from Great Britain.
“This is not just a few days of violence, this has been wanton destruction on a huge scale, and any police service in these islands who are dealing with this kind of pressure, dealing with the number of officers, now close to 50, who have been injured in the last few days, would clearly be feeling the challenge and the strain,” she told the BBC.
The leisure centre had temporarily been used as an emergency shelter for those in urgent need following disturbances in Ballymena earlier in the week.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons, who highlighted the use of the building in a social media post, said all those who had been staying at the leisure centre are in the care of the Housing Executive and have been moved out of Larne.
SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole, the leader of the opposition in the Northern Ireland Assembly, said he would refer Mr Lyons to the standards commission following the fire.
Several arrests have been made and dozens of police officers have been injured during the sustained unrest in Ballymena, which also saw multiple properties and vehicles set on fire.
Tense scenes as police hold the line close to Clonavon Terrace in Ballymena @PA pic.twitter.com/KY8JhzsUDR
— Jonny McCambridge (@McCambridgeJ) June 11, 2025
In the town on Wednesday, the PSNI deployed riot police for a third night in a row as hundreds gathered around the Clonavon Terrace area.
At least one protester was struck by plastic baton rounds fired by police while officers also used a water cannon on the crowd.
Officers used dog units and drones in their response to the gathering.
Riot police with shields advanced on the crowd to disperse them down Bridge Street on to other roadways.
They came under sustained attack as those participating in disorder hurled petrol bombs, masonry and fireworks at police vehicles and officers standing nearby.
Rioters smashed the windows of a house on North Street and set multiple fires on streets in the surrounding area.
The disorder and stand-off with police continued past midnight.
The PSNI have also noted scenes of disorder in Belfast, Lisburn, Carrickfergus and Newtownabbey earlier in the week, as businesses, homes and cars were attacked and damaged.
By Wednesday, six individuals had been arrested for public order offences, and one charged.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he “utterly condemns” violence which left 32 police officers injured after the second night of disturbances.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher has warned the rioting “risks undermining” the criminal justice process into an allegation of a sex attack on a teenage girl in Ballymena at the weekend.
Stormont ministers have also made an urgent appeal for calm and said the justice process had to be allowed to take its course.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill and deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly appeared together on Wednesday to voice their condemnation.
Sinn Fein vice-president Ms O’Neill told reporters in Belfast: “It’s pure racism, there is no other way to dress it up.”
Ms Little-Pengelly described the scenes in Ballymena as “unacceptable thuggery”.
With the protests focused in predominantly loyalist areas in Ballymena, Ms O’Neill said she did not believe it would be helpful for her to visit in the current context. DUP MLA Ms Little-Pengelly met residents in the town on Wednesday and said the local community are in fear and wanted the violence to stop.
“The key message here today is around that violence, and that the violence needs to stop, that’s what the community wants to put across, and that’s why I’m here to send that very clear and united message from right throughout the community and local residents for that to stop,” she said.
The violence began around Clonavon Terrace on Monday night following an earlier peaceful protest which was organised in support of the family of a girl who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault in the area.
Two teenage boys, who spoke to a court through a Romanian interpreter, have been charged.
