50 h. ago More than 100 officers were hurt in Northern Ireland riots – Boutcher

PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said the actions of his officers had saved lives during the first night of violence in Ballymena last month.

Events

9 d. ago The Guardian view on China, Africa and disappearing donkeys: an unexpected crisis offers a clue to perils ahead | Editorial

The surging export of hides created domestic tensions – and shows how globalisation plays out in unexpected waysWhat can help to protect women’s health, boost the incomes of impoverished families and thus allow girls to avoid early marriage? What – when it disappears – can set back children’s education, damage mental wellbeing, drive conflict within communities and become a vector for racial hatred?The humble donkey has rarely been in the spotlight. Yet Chinese demand for its skin proved so destabilising that African governments agreed to a continent-wide ban on the slaughter of the animal for its hide last year. This week, officials are meeting in Ivory Coast to discuss implementation.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago New UKHSA plea to 'get vaccinated' as fewer people have jab that prevents cancer

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned that variations in geographical coverage of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine in adolescents across England is leaving young women in some areas with less protection against cervical and some other cancers

Politics

2 w. ago Met Police introduces patrols to protect women and girls at concerts

The operation began on June 5 at Beyonce’s concert at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Events

2 w. ago The racial violence in Ballymena repeats a pattern that’s blighted Britain for years. We must wake up to that | Lanre Bakare

History tells us attacks on migrants are a predictable result of political failings, distorted media coverage and far-right opportunismIn early June, the violence began. Rumours of a foreigner assaulting a local woman resulted in groups roaming through a small British town, breaking windows of homes belonging to “outsiders”. A few days later, the police attempted to stop mobs from reaching another nearby multiracial area. Eventually they broke through, ransacking shops and burning down a house, while local media reported that the violence had developed into “something like a fever”.Sound familiar? This isn’t Ballymena, the County Antrim town in Northern Ireland that has seen several nights of unrest in which immigrant homes were attacked after reports of an alleged sexual assault on a local girl by two teenagers, who had a Romanian interpreter read them the charges. These incidents actually took place more than a century ago, during the summer of 1919, as racial violence spread thro...

Events

2 w. ago MPs are set for crunch vote on decriminalising abortion TODAY as biggest law change in more than 50 years seeks to protect women

Currently abortion is a criminal offence in England and Wales unless it takes place before 24 weeks into a pregnancy and with the approval of doctors.

Politics

2 w. ago ‘It’s not a genuine apology’: Spanish women reject Catholic attempt to redress Franco incarceration

Many survivors believe organisation’s request for forgiveness over abuse in Women’s Protection Board centres does not go far enoughAs the members of the Catholic organisation wrapped up their speech with an appeal for forgiveness, the auditorium in Madrid exploded in rage. For decades, many in the audience had grappled with the scars left by their time in Catholic-run institutions; now they were on their feet chanting: “Truth, justice and reparations” and – laying bare their rejection of any apology – “Neither forget, nor forgive”.It was an unprecedented response to an unprecedented moment in Spain, hinting at the deep fissures that linger over one of the longest-running and least-known institutions of Francisco Franco’s dictatorship: the Catholic-run centres that incarcerated thousands of women and girls as young as eight, subjecting them to barbaric punishments, forced labour and religious indoctrination. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago More police officers hurt during fifth night of violence in Northern Ireland

The violence followed an alleged sex attack on a teenage girl in Ballymena.

Events

3 w. ago The Ballymena violence has nothing to do with ‘protecting women’. It is racism, pure and simple | Sarah Creighton

Northern Ireland has always seen high levels of violence against women and girls. Blaming migrants is a useful way to distract from thatIn 1972, loyalist paramilitaries fired bullets into the home of a Catholic woman, Sarah McClenaghan. That night she was at home with her lodger, a Protestant, and her disabled teenage son, David. After forcing her son to get his mother’s rosary beads, proving that she was Catholic, a loyalist paramilitary raped Sarah. David was tortured. The gang then shot them both, David dying of his wounds.I thought about David and Sarah as I watched rolling news of the pogroms in Ballymena. I thought about them in light of the lie that violence against women and girls has been imported to Northern Ireland via migrants or asylum seekers. It’s always been here. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Petrol bombs and fireworks launched at police as Ballymena riots spread across Northern Ireland in fifth night of violence after 'alleged attempted rape of local girl, 16, by two Romanian teens'

Crowds of masked thugs gathered in Portadown where a protest had been held earlier in the evening before it descended into carnage.

Events

3 w. ago The Guardian view on riots in Northern Ireland: racist violence does not express ‘legitimate grievance’ | Editorial

Politicians must analyse the forces behind mob unrest, but not in terms that make excuses for itA reputation for political violence is one reason Northern Ireland has historically attracted fewer immigrants than the rest of the UK. In that context, increasing diversity could be read as a measure of progress; a peace dividend after the Troubles. That isn’t how it has felt to families cowering in fear of racist mobs this week. The riots started in Ballymena, ostensibly triggered by the arrest of two boys, reported to be of Romanian origin, accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. A community vigil mutated into a racist rampage. Masked thugs targeted the local migrant population. When police came to quell the pogrom, officers were attacked with bricks, fireworks, petrol bombs. There was contagion. Windows were smashed and a fire started at a leisure centre in nearby Larne that had been used as a temporary refuge for those fleeing the Ballymena violence. There were outbreaks of di...

Events

3 w. ago Revealed: 'Boastful' Romanian wrongly arrested over 'sexual assault of girl' in Ballymena goes public to protest his innocence and says mob violence has caused his family to flee the country

The 28-year-old father-of-two named Alex said his Antrim home and car were attacked by anti-immigrant rioters while he was in custody and again a second time when he returned home.

Events

3 w. ago Ballymena riots: Police arrest man and woman with victim 'traumatised' by days of violence

Police in Northern Ireland have faced four consecutive days of violence in the wake of an alleged sexual assault in Ballymena that sparked riots, leaving residents terrified

Events

3 w. ago Family of girl 'sexually assaulted by Romanian teens' plead with Ballymena rioters to end violence as town braces for fourth night of chaos

Northern Ireland 's police chief Jon Boutcher said the young girl who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault in Ballymena had been 'further traumatised' by the rioting since Monday.

Events

3 w. ago How a peaceful protest erupted into nights of violence and rocked a Northern Irish community

A demonstration organised on social media called for a ‘peaceful protest to show our anger at what cannot and will not be tolerated in this town’. But after three nights of violence, terrified families are fleeing Ballymena and displaying their nationalities on their front door

Events

3 w. ago Judge warns those involved in Ballymena violence will be dealt with ‘robustly’

Three teenagers appeared in court on rioting offences.

Events

3 w. ago Watch: Homes left smashed and charred after multiple nights of violence in Ballymena

Homes have been destroyed after several nights of unrest in Northern Ireland, where rioters hurled petrol bombs, masonry and fireworks at police.

Events

3 w. ago Three nights of disorder ‘not what Northern Ireland is about’ – Benn

The Secretary of State and local political leaders have urged the violence focused on Ballymena, Co Antrim, to stop.

Politics

3 w. ago AIMEE WALSH: 'Ballymena riots aren't noble acts to protect women

Riots broke out in Ballymena, a Northern Irish town, after two teenagers were charged with the attempted rape of another teenager. Don’t be fooled, this is not about protecting women, writes critic Aimee Walsh

Politics

3 w. ago Northern Ireland riots latest: Petrol bombs and fireworks hurled at police as Ballymena violence spreads

Violence has broken out in Ballymena for the past three nights after angry mobs went on the rampage through the town’s streets

Events