The Police Service of Northern Ireland supported by its Public Order Enquiry Team is continuing to make daily arrests relating to recent disorder – the most recent five arrests include a man in his 20s detained in connection with the arson to Larne Leisure Centre.

The local sporting facility was set alight causing significant damage during the race-motivated disorder on Wednesday, 11th June.

A man, aged 25, following a house search in Larne at the weekend has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life in relation to the fire at Larne Leisure Centre.  He remains in custody at this time.

These arrests bring the total detained in relation to disorder across Northern Ireland in the past week to 29 - with more to come in the coming days and weeks.

It was the second night of reduced level of disorder on Sunday night, 15th June with officers dealing with sporadic disturbances in different locations.

Four have been charged to appear before court today, Monday 16th June. This includes a girl aged 13 who has been charged with riot by officers investigating disorder in Ballymena on Wednesday, 11th June and a man aged 40, also charged with riot following the first night of the disorder in Ballymena on Monday, 9th June.  A 33-year-old woman has been charged with child cruelty relating to the disorder.

Meanwhile, detectives investigating online posts relating to recent public disorder have charged a 32-year-old man to court. He has been charged with sending menacing messages through a public electronic communications network and with encouraging or assisting offences believing one or more will be committed. He is further charged with possession of a class B controlled drug. He is due to appear before Coleraine Magistrates’ Court today, Monday, 16th June.

Graffiti in Bangor and on an unoccupied house in Chadwick Street in south Belfast are being investigated as race-motivated hate crimes.

In Brompton Park in Ardoyne, around 30 youths set a wheelie bin on fire, no damage was caused to shops and, following engagement, no serious disorder ensued.
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Assistant Chief Constable Melanie Jones said: “Our heightened presence in our local communities and continued community engagement to de-escalate violence continued last night, thankfully, similar to Saturday, the situation was much calmer.

“I issued a public plea to parent/guardians and families of young people who have been driving the criminal activity in some areas to warn them of the serious consequences of their actions. I am asking for continued conversations amongst local families to deter young people from criminalising themselves.”

ACC Jones continued: “Our Chief Constable and other members of the senior team have been meeting with local community representatives of those affected over the weekend so we can support them as best we can and offer reassurance of our policing operation to restore calm.

“Everyone deserves to feel safe on our streets. So, just as we will seek justice for women and girls who report heinous crimes to us, we will also seek justice for local innocent families who are being targeted by criminality fuelled by hate.

“We will continue to robustly investigate the disorder over the last number of days but do not want to see any more young people criminalised by being caught up in this activity.

“Thankfully, none of our officers policing this disorder reported being injured on duty last night. We have 64 of our colleagues currently recovering from injury and I commend their bravery and unwavering efforts.

“As our investigation continues, we have already released images of a number of individuals we want to identify and interview in connection with our ongoing investigation. In releasing these images, I am asking the wider community to step forward and help us.  It is in all of our interests, and in the interests of justice, that those responsible are dealt with and I would urge anyone who may have information to bring it forward.

“If you are able to identify any of the people shown in these images or can provide information about them you should contact us on 101 or on our major incident portal, which is accessible on our website.

“I would also like to reassure the communities that we serve that we will continue to maintain our presence and protect streets.

“We are grateful for the support of all who condemn this criminality and would, once more, repeat our appeal for calm across Northern Ireland in the coming days.”

Photos and footage, including CCTV, mobile phone or dash cam footage, can be shared with police through the Major Incident Public Portal at https://mipp.police.uk/operation/PSNI25U11-PO1

A report can be submitted online using the non-emergency reporting form via http://www.psni.police.uk/makeareport/ or you can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at http://crimestoppers-uk.org/