A riot has broken out in a Northern Ireland town following a protest over an alleged sexual assault case.
Police in Ballymena said a number of missiles had been thrown towards officers after an estimated crowd of around 2,500 gathered in the Harryville area to show their anger.
Hundreds of protesters had gathered in the town in response to a case involving two teenage boys who appeared before Coleraine Magistrates’ Court earlier in the day.
The boys were accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl in the County Antrim town.
Irish media outlet RTE News reported that the teenagers, who it said are Romanian and spoke through an interpreter, cannot be identified because of their ages.
A separate police statement from Sunday said two teenage boys had been charged with attempted rape in connection with a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in Ballymena on Saturday evening.
Firefighters later responded to the burning debris on the road and inspected a nearby house, which had filled with smoke.
Other footage appeared to show some protesters targeting houses by smashing windows.
North Antrim MP and TUV leader Jim Allister said tensions had been growing over immigration, adding that the violence followed a peaceful protest in support of the family of a girl who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault in the town at the weekend.
He said: “Within Ballymena, there has been rising concerns about the sheer scale of migration into the town and that would have been a factor in the wholly peaceful protest.
“All that to be distinguished from the wanton violence which then followed, with obviously a minority of that peaceful crowd wanting to take advantage of that to visit violence which wasn’t wanted or warranted, hence the scenes that we saw.
“It is very distressing to see scenes of violence on the streets of Ballymena.”
Chief Superintendent from PSNI Sue Steen said: “We are urging everyone to remain calm and to act responsibly. Violence and disorder will only place people at greater risk.
“Our priority is to keep the community safe, and I would appeal to everyone to work with us to bring calm to the area as quickly as possible.”