GettyThe MP who represents the Northern Ireland town where 15 police officers were injured in disorder described as “racist thuggery” has had his condemnation of the violence labelled as “insincere” and “weaselly”.
North Antrim MP Jim Allister said he “utterly repudiated” the criticism by fellow Northern Ireland MP Claire Hanna.
The Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader said the violence in Ballymena, County Antrim, on Monday was wrong and unwarranted, but also said the “oversubscription of migrants” in that part of the town had led to tensions.
It comes as a number of people have again gathered on the streets of the town where there is a heavy police presence after the violence of Monday night.
PacemakerIt broke out following an earlier peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault in the town.
Petrol bombs and other missiles were thrown at police, and six homes attacked with four of them damaged by fire.
One assembly member, Sian Mulholland, told the Northern Ireland Assembly that a family with three young children had to “barricade themselves into their attic”.
A number of businesses were also damaged, with windows and doors smashed.
A 29-year-old man has been charged with riotous behaviour, disorderly behaviour, attempted criminal damage and resisting police.
The police described the actions as “racist thuggery” and indicated some people on Monday night were “clearly intent on violence”.
They added there would be a “significant” policing presence in the town in the coming days, including on Tuesday night.
The prime minister’s official spokesman described the events in Ballymena as “very concerning”.
Earlier on Monday, two teenage boys appeared before Coleraine Magistrates’ Court accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in Ballymena.
They spoke through an interpreter in Romanian to confirm their names and ages.
Their solicitor said they would be denying the charges.
What did Jim Allister say about the violence?
Speaking on Newsline, Jim Allister said his primary thoughts were with all who suffered in the violence but also the 14-year-girl who was the alleged victim of the sexual assault, and for whom “thousands gathered last night to show empathy”.
“My fear was, and it turned out to be true, that that vital demonstration of opposition to violence against women would be overwhelmed by a resort to violence by those who had other ideas and other agendas, and sadly that’s what happened.”
He added that the underlying tensions had been “there for a long time in this particular part of Ballymena” because there was “an oversubscription of migrants who had been placed there”, causing “tensions to rise to the surface”.
“In that sense, it was unsurprising but utterly unacceptable that there should be any resort to violence.”
When asked about what evidence he was drawing on, Allister said the last time he canvassed a street in the area with 50 houses, he came “upon five local, if I can call them that, residents of Ballymena”.
He added: “If you find a street where only five of fifty houses are occupied by local people, then I think there is an imbalance which is storing up trouble.”
Allister said that while some work and integrate, “many of them sadly have not integrated and have sought to pursue a lifestyle which is not compatible, in many ways, with what is expected in a town community such as Ballymena”.
PASouth Belfast MP Claire Hanna responded by saying “some politicians are choosing to explain away” episodes of violence.
“We are hearing words of condemnation which are, at best insincere, and many people would describe as weaselly,” the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) leader added.
“You can choose each day when you have a mandate and a platform to get up and try and solve problems or you can choose to exploit them, you can choose to try to calm tensions or you can try and fan them.”
In response, Allister said: “If Claire is trying to pretend that I am insincere in my condemnation of violence then I utterly repudiate and indeed resent that comment.”
He accused her comments of being “supercilious lectures from someone who thinks they are superior on these issues”.
What have other NI politicians said?
Earlier, previous comments from Jim Allister on Monday, that there had been a demographic change due to “unfettered immigration” in the area, were criticised by Hanna’s party colleague Matthew O’Toole, who said they were “deeply irresponsible”.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Paul Frew said he had been warning about “rising tensions” in the area and those warnings have “now come true”.
“There is not justification for what happened,” he added. “Violence is always wrong.”
Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said she was appalled by the “disturbing scenes” while Sinn Féin’s Philip McGuigan, who represents the North Antrim constituency, appealed for calm and urged political leaders to “use measured language”.
