As racially-motivated violence replaces sectarianism, Northern Ireland erupts into riots

Author: Devin Windelspecht, MSc

June 20, 2025

HRRC calls on U.K. authorities and the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to fully hold to account individuals responsible for attacks on property during the anti-migrant Ballymeena riots. It also calls for increased research into and action to combat the spread of anti-migrant and racist messaging online and in communities, including when linked to paramilitary groups. 

Officials said they were investigating the attacks on businesses and houses in Ballymena as racially motivated. [Image credit: Pacemaker Press]

For decades, violence in Northern Ireland has been defined by “sectarianism” – conflict along religious or political lines, in the case of Northern Ireland, predominantly Protestant loyalists who intend the region to remain part of the United Kingdom, and predominantly Catholic nationalists who intend for it to become part of the country of Ireland. Sectarian conflict between loyalists and nationalists erupted in the “Troubles,” a conflict that lasted from the late 1960s to 1998 and saw the deaths of over 3,000 to killings, bombings, and "disappearances” by loyalist paramilitaries, U.K. security forces, and the nationalist Irish Republican Army (IRA). 

Sectarian violence has continued in Northern Ireland, albeit on a lower level, following the end of the conflict in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. But recent riots in Ballymeena, a predominantly Protestant and loyalist town north of Belfast, point to a shift in who violence is targeting: away from traditional sectarian divisions and toward ethnic minorities and migrants. 

The riots began after two teenage boys were charged with attempted rape of a young girl in Ballymeena. Reports that they were read their charges by a Romanian interpreter set off at first peaceful protests which turned into three days of rioting, as rioters attacked houses of immigrants and ethnic minorities and attempted to set on fire a recreation center designated as an “emergency rest center” for people displaced by the violence. 

The riots occur after an uptick of racially-motivated violence in Northern Ireland, according to the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), with racially-motivated hate crimes for the first time eclipsing sectarian-motivated crimes. 

Spreading disinformation that targets immigrants, ties between rioters and paramilitary groups, and the rise of far-right activity online have all been linked to the rise in racist violence. Anti-migrant sentiment has at times united traditional sectarian divides, too: in August 2024, when a separate racist riot erupted in Belfast, anti-immigration protesters carried both Irish and U.K. flags, a rare site in Northern Ireland. 

Northern Ireland is not unique in experiencing racist violence targeting migrants. Attacks on migrants have escalated across Europe with the rise of the far-right and disinformation spread on social media, including recently in England and Ireland. But legacies of the Troubles, especially the continued presence of paramilitaries leftover from the conflict, adds an additional element to racially-motivated violence carried out in the region. 

For example, though there is currently no evidence that paramilitaries organized the Ballymeena riots, loyalist paramilitaries have been in the past linked to perpetrating racist violence in areas where they have influence. 

“This often manifests in violent racist and sectarian intimidation from housing in areas of control [by paramilitaries], which can be preceded by related racist materials in public space to deter migrants from living in the area,” according to a report on the rise of far-right activity online in the region.

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Glossary 

• Disappearance: in which a person is kidnapped and likely killed, but their body intentionally buried or hidden to prevent discovery or return of their body to their family. 

• Disinformation: information intentionally designed to mislead someone about the facts.

• Eclipsing: overcoming. 

• Ethnic minority: a person belonging to a given ethnic group that is not the majority of the country. In the U.S., Canada and Europe, typically refers to people who are not considered white.

• Far-right: political ideology that falls outside the acceptable mainstream of political opinion. Fascism and white supremacy are two examples of far-right politics. 

• Hate crime: a criminal act motivated by hate against a person’s ethnicity, religion, political affiliation, sex, gender, etc. 

• Legacy: the memory and aftermath of a conflict, and how it still affects life day to day after the conflict ends. 

• Loyalists: also known as Unionists, people in Northern Ireland who believe that the region should remain part of the United Kingdom. Mostly but not exclusively Protestant. 

• Nationalists: also known as Republicans, people in Northern Ireland who believe that the region should become part of the country of Ir

  eland. Mostly but not exclusively Catholic. 

• Migrant: a person who has left their country of origin to live in another country, either temporarily or permanently. 

• Paramilitary: military-style groups that do not belong to a country and are often outside the bounds of the law. In Northern Ireland, they have taken the form of loyalist paramilitaries like the Ulster Defense Force (UDF) or the republican Irish Republican Army (IRA). 

• Perpetuate: to carry out an action continuously.

• Racially-motivated violence: violence targeting a member group based on their racial appearance or identity.

• Sectarianism: conflict or intolerance along religious or political lines.