The Ballymena riots are nothing to do with protecting women

Metro

12-06-2025

Less than a year on from the far right riots that gripped England last summer, another part of the UK finds itself engulfed in a rampage of violence sparked by anti-immigrant sentiment.
Several Northern Irish towns and cities have seen days of racially-motivated destruction, disorder and crime, with homes set alight, petrol bombs thrown and police officers attacked.
The epicentre of the chaos is Ballymena, Country Antrim, where rioting followed initially peaceful protests on Monday evening in support of a teenage girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted in the area.
Two teenagers appeared in court on Monday charged with attempted rape.
Though their ethnicity hasn't been officially announced by the police, they spoke through a Romanian translator in court.
And much like the riots that originated in Stockport last summer when Axel Rudakubana killed three children, it is their perceived identity that is the focus of the disorder.
Like that unrest, the violence has been targeted, and terrifying, not least for someone like me, a visibly Muslim woman living in the UK.
Attacks have been aimed at businesses and households thought to belong to 'foreign' people, anti-immigration slogans have been chanted in the street, and rioters have even live-streamed burning someone's house.
The situation is so bad that families in Northern Ireland have resorted to putting up signs clarifying their identity to avoid being considered 'foreign'.
It goes without saying that we should all be outraged by the alleged attempted rape of a teenage girl, no matter who is accused of perpetrating the act.
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But like last year, I'm forced to ask – is this really about the alleged victim at all?
Why is it that these masked mobs only seem to care about protecting women and girls from violence and sexual assault when it's someone who isn't White British accused of the crime?
There was no sign of these rioters when, for example, one of Northern Ireland's most prominent politicians, former DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, was charged with 18 sexual offences including one of rape, all of which he denies.
Defenders of these racist riots might argue that immigration is the root of this problem but are we really going to pretend that migrant men are uniquely responsible for the epidemic of violence against women in a way that white British people aren't?
The last time I checked, our national institutions – from parliament to the police force – were riddled with instances of misogyny.
Besides, if immigration was to blame then how do you explain sexual abuses of power conducted by wealthy white men in suits?
Are we going to ban suits because some men who wear them abuse women?
No, of course not. Because those propositions are ridiculous.
Just as ridiculous as blaming racist riots on the very immigrant communities who are being targeted.
Ultimately, those rioting are hiding behind the guise of protecting women to instead propagate extremism.
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Those in Ballymena aren't venting their frustrations at specific immigration policy, or protesting in support of women and girls, they are enacting violence and creating disorder in the name of the kind of culture that excludes people like me.
If this was actually about systemic misogyny, then we'd see mass unrest every time a famous figure, business or institution is found to have been mistreating women, something that happens with depressing regularity.
Instead, when horrific things befall women and girls, our suffering is hijacked by those seeking to sow discord and ignite community tensions.
Just like with the horrific murder of three little girls in Stockport last year, the unconscionable act simply became a way for people to fuel a violent anti-immigration agenda.
Meanwhile the plight of the victims and their families was overshadowed.
Senseless violence and mass disorder doesn't protect women.
It renders entire communities unsafe and ironically it is women and children who bear the brunt of this.
There have been stories of migrant mothers fleeing Northern Ireland with their children in recent days because they are so frightened of being visibly foreign amidst such aggression and hostility.
Parts of Britain descending into racist chaos every time a non-white person commits or is accused of a crime destroys the fabric of what sort of country Britain claims to be: One of tolerance and inclusion.
These far-right rioters positioning themselves as the great defenders of British women and girls actually do the opposite.
It moves the focus away from dealing with systemic, embedded patriarchy and misogyny in our society and instead shifts resources – from media attention to police time and money – onto tackling the subsequent disorder, rather than the root cause.
Plus, what sort of women and girls are they defending?
Certainly not women like me, who are visibly other, and are actively rendered unsafe by this sort of violence.
Everyone I know who is a visible outsider – whether through skin colour or religious dress – still has the memory of last summer's racist riots etched in their mind. More Trending
It has permanently shifted the ground upon which we have built our lives in the country we thought we belonged in.
The idea of the same thing once again being reignited on UK soil reminds me that people like me are never safe.
All it takes is one alleged crime to be committed by someone with a foreign name or brown skin and we are all once again rendered unsafe, forced to hide away in our homes or prove our right to exist in the place we call home.
And that isn't protecting anyone.
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