Ballymena violence fuelled by mainstreaming of far-right, not just social media
Published: 25 June 2025
Commentary
Dr Paul Reilly explores the recent violence in Northern Ireland, focusing on events in Ballymena, and examines how social media, political rhetoric, and the mainstreaming of far-right views have fuelled tensions, calling for a more responsible, anti-racist narrative from both politicians and tech platforms to prevent further unrest.
Last week, there were several nights of violent disorder in towns across Northern Ireland. Violence flared in Ballymena on Monday evening after a peaceful protest in response to news that two 14-year-old Romanian youths had been charged with an alleged sexual assault on a teenage girl in the area. Businesses and homes were attacked in violence that PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher called ‘absolutely race-motivated’. Many people from minority ethnic backgrounds resorted to putting Union Flags on their doors to avoid being targeted by rioters. The violence was condemned by politicians from across the political divide, with First Minister Michelle O’Neill condemning the Ballymena violence as “pure racism”.
As we saw with the Southport riots last August, there has been much discussion about the role of social media in fuelling racist violence. Loyalist groups like the Ballymena Reaction Group and Protestant Coalition used their public Facebook pages to share details of the protests and call for the removal of ‘Roma gang masters’ from their communities. Masked rioters went as far as to livestream themselves burning down a house in Ballymena, with one offering to smash a window in return for ‘gifts’ from viewers. Numerous false claims about immigrants were shared within these online groups. It was perhaps no surprise that Sinn Fein representative Philip McGuigan called on big tech companies like Meta to remove such content.
There are other similarities to previous incidents of violent disorder too. A recurring theme in my research has been how politicians often make things worse through their commentary, both on and offline. From the 2012 flag protests in Northern Ireland to the 2024 Southport riots, some politicians have inflamed tensions rather than condemningviolence without reservation. This week there have been calls for Communities Minister Gordon Lyons to resign from the Northern Ireland Executive after he revealed on Facebook that families forced out of their homes in Ballymena had been moved to LarneLeisure Centre. Critics accused Lyons of inflaming tensions by revealing their location, which was later targeted by the rioters. Amnesty International’s Patrick Corrigan was among those to blame politicians for irresponsibly conflating immigration with crime and social issues that affected all communities.
There will no doubt be more calls for tighter regulation of online platforms to prevent a repeat of this racist violence. While platforms can clearly do more to tackle onlinedisinformation and hate, this doesn’t address its root causes. Elected representatives need to acknowledge their role in producing a toxic discourse in relation to immigration. Some unionist politicians defended the anti-immigrant protests that sparked the violence.Traditional Unionist Voice leader Jim Allister suggested the demonstrations had focussedattention on ‘long-standing frustrations’ over ‘unchecked immigration’ into Ballymena. This illustrates what Aurelien Mondon and Aaron Winter refer to as the mainstreaming of the far-right. This is when large sections of the media and political class present racist views as the ‘legitimate concerns’ of local communities, irrespective of the facts.
Our politicians need to do much more than say ‘never again’. There is an urgent need for an anti-racist, fact-based narrative on issues like immigration if we are to avoid a repeatof the scenes in Ballymena and Larne last week.
This article was featured on The Herald’s website.
First published: 25 June 2025