The site of the clashes was the city of Ballymena, in Northern Ireland, which was rocked on June 10 by groups of protesters who targeted houses where migrants live and engaging in clashes with the police.

The protests were sparked by allegations of an attempted rape involving two teenagers described as being of foreign origin.

Dozens of injured and wounded police agents and arrests

As of the morning of June 11, police reported that 33 officers had been injured, and several individuals had been arrested. Among those detained was a 29-year-old man charged with criminal damage, disorderly conduct, and resisting arrest.

Local police described the violence as an exploitation of public outrage by some individuals intent on carrying out "mere racial vandalism".

Jim Allister, Member of Parliament of the Protestant Unionist right party of Northern Ireland, elected in the constituency of North Antrim County, denounced the events as "very worrisome" but also used the occasion to blame immigration and the nearby Irish Republic, which he accused of allowing "illegal migrants" to cross over the border into Ulster.

British media, in covering the events, recalled previous unrest in the UK last summer following the killing of little girls who allegedly were stabbed near Liverpool by the 17-year-old son of Rwandan refugees -- an event that back then had infected even Northern Ireland.

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Assault allegations spark unrest

On Tuesday, what sparked the unrest was the charge of sexual aggression on a young local girl pressed against two teenagers, who were subsequently arrested and appeared on June 9 before the judge at a local court, who confirmed their detention.

The case provoked strong public emotion, and tensions rose further after it emerged during the court hearing that the defense team had requested the assistance of a Romanian interpreter. Police have not confirmed the ethnicity or nationality of the suspects, who remain in custody.

Despite this, the areas attacked included neighborhoods of the local Romanian community: objects were hurled, properties assaulted, windows smashed, and doors kicked in. Families with children were forced to barricade themselves inside their homes for safety.

Some protesters then challenged police officers with firebombs, paint, bats, and other varied makeshift weapons. Police officers intervened in large numbers to bring the situation under control.

There were also police vehicles set on fire, as shown by the images of the fires and smoke in some videos filmed on the streets of Ballymena, a town of approximately 30,000 inhabitants. The community is already grappling with poverty, social exclusion, in addition to the inheritance of inter-confessional violence from the past. The challenges related to immigration are a relatively recent phenomenon for the area.