Photo: Pacemaker / Fair Use
RSI has viewed the racist violence in Ballymena and other areas of Northern Ireland over recent days with alarm. This racist violence occurred after two 14-year-old boys were arrested on suspicion of attempted rape of a girl on 7 June 2025. The two boys deny the charges.
Racist perpetrators of violence co-opted a peaceful vigil in Ballymena on 9 June 2025, which had been called to raise awareness of the unacceptable level of violence against women and girls in Northern Ireland. Our understanding is that they did so against the victim’s family’s wishes.
Victims of gender-based violence in Northern Ireland are systemically failed by state institutions that should protect them. Indeed, we are aware that victims of gender-based violence in Northern Ireland regularly face distressing experiences when engaging with a criminal justice system that has too often failed them. The Northern Ireland Executive included an Ending Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy in its 2024 Programme for Government, but RSI remains concerned about the wholly inadequate resources that have been allocated.
Unfortunately, violent demonstrations of racial hatred are now eclipsing those conversations.
We are concerned by the decision of key actors in the UK’s national government to avoid describing this racist violence as what it is: racist, as well as xenophobic.
On 11 June 2025, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Hilary Benn, released a statement in which he stated that he ‘condemns civil disorder’ in Ballymena. On the same day, at Prime Minister’s Questions, Prime Minister Kier Starmer described the violence as ‘mindless attacks'.
From what we can see, the attacks are not ‘mindless’. They are racist, and the failure to describe them as such is a matter of serious concern for RSI. What is not named, becomes invisible.
In contrast with these national political figures, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) had stated that the disorder after the alleged attempted rape was ‘racist thuggery.’
We have long maintained that the UK government, some politicians and the PSNI as an institution have failed to act properly to deal with accelerating racist and far-right agitation targeted at migrants and racialised communities in Northern Ireland. Unchecked racism risks creating the perception that such conduct is tolerated. This is why we raised alarms about anti-migrant violence in Northern Ireland with the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in 2024.
RSI urges that the racist nature of the attacks be explicitly named by all politicians, especially when the attacks have been categorised as such by the PSNI. A failure to do so undermines the cause of anti-racism in Northern Ireland and elsewhere.
Racism must be called out for what it is, as and when it occurs, by political leaders to protect the victims of racism and to uphold the rule of law for everyone.
