Second night of “mindless violence”…

From the Beltel:

Six people have been arrested and 17 officers injured during a second night of what the PSNI Chief Constable has described as “mindless violence”.
Calm was restored to the Ballymena area after 1am this morning.

The violence had broken out shortly before 8pm and continued for several hours with masonry and petrol bombs thrown at police officers and police vehicles.

A number of homes and businesses were also attacked.

These things are always a Northern Ireland Rorschach test.

For nationalists looking on, it’s further proof that loyalists are hate-filled racists. For loyalists, it is about taking a stand to stop their communities being taken over by migrants. Then there’s the rest of us in the middle going WTF?

It’s like every side watches the same footage and comes away with a completely different film in their heads. One person sees community defence, another sees a racist mob, and someone else just sees a load of fellas in tracksuits setting wheelie bins on fire.

I do also wonder if the extensive media coverage is ironically making the situation worse. We have a weird feedback loop: someone does something stupid, the media covers it, and that coverage inadvertently encourages more people to do stupid things.

Note – not blaming the media entirely. Social media is more to blame in this situation. TikToks of lads throwing bricks like they’re auditioning for Grand Theft Auto: Ballymena Edition. Snapchats of burning houses doing the rounds faster than the PSNI Chief Constable John Boutcher can issue blatantly obvious statements like “Let me be clear: this behaviour must stop. I appeal to everyone involved to cease all further acts of criminality and disorder immediately.”

Either way, expect a lot of noise but not much sense over the next while. The usual mix of political point-scoring, performative outrage, and the occasional politician who somehow manages to say nothing for 300 words.

And, of course, we also have the marching season to look forward to next month because nothing cools community tensions quite like bonfires and massive parades through contested spaces.

Meanwhile, the BelTel reports that Mourne and Down Council DUP councillor Henry Reilly is doing his bit to improve community relations by posting on Facebook: “Should the burqa be banned in the UK? Is it alien to British culture or should we all be allowed to wear what we want?”. Given that it is Facebook, you will not be surprised to find out that the overwhelming majority of people commenting on his post believed women should be prohibited from wearing the garment here. As I mentioned yesterday, there is a grand total of 5 arab people in Ballymena, I can’t imagine there is much more on Henry’s patch. Unless there is a secret Mosque somewhere in the Mournes we don’t know about. If you live in the area, can you let us know if Rostrevor has become a caliphate recently?

I do feel sorry for the Filipino fella caught up in the madness. You’d struggle to find a more good-natured, hard-working, family-oriented people than the Filipinos. They come here to earn an honest living, not to get dragged into this tribal carry-on. They deserve far better than this nonsense.

After reading this, I can imagine you’re all opening your browsers to check for cheap Ryanair flights or Airbnbs in Donegal. Can’t say I blame you. Get the hell out while you still can.

Summer in Northern Ireland: part street party, part security operation, part existential dread.

Brian O'Neill

Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.