Horrendous scenes in Ballymena

PS. To David. The majority of traveller children in the UK have Irish roots. Are you now lumping together Irish travellers, Roma and Romanians?

They could be both.

Honestly!

Does no-one care anything about the girl at all?
Whoever the perpetrators were.

Everyone is so obsessed with perceived racism that the victim is forgotten in all this.

I don't believe Gransnet sometimes.

How silly, of course as women and Grandparents we care.

We care that some poor girl has been attacked, we care that police have been attacked, we care that a Roma family were driven from their home and we care that people have to put signs up saying they are Filipino. All of it is wrong.

As I understand it, the boys are Roma, which is not the same as Romanian, although many Roma do come from there. There was a horrifying murder of a 24 year old teacher in Offaly two years ago, and the perpetrator is now in prison. A brother, his own wife and a sister-in-law are before the courts at the moment to ascertain what they knew about it all and whether they burned the murderer's clothes to help conceal the crimes. This publicity does not do the Roma community in general much good, and indeed many of that ethnicity are involved in petty crime in Ireland, and more serious law-breaking.. Not all, however, but many fear intimidation from their clansmen. Many come from areas in Europe where they may have past bad experiences with agencies of the law. The murderer in question, above, lived in local authority housing with his extended family and fourteen children, and was on disability payment. along with the rest of the family. I don't know what the solution is. I do know that many Romanians in Ireland are annoyed by being confused with the Roma community. Ordinary Irish people (as one, I ask, do such exist? ) when in difficult straits because of inflation, inability to find homes, their own poverty and so on, have been agitated for some time about all this. Who knowa how and when it will all end!

I should have said, the murderer and family are from the Roma community.

How silly

Do not call me silly
Thank you.

It’s human nature.
With any shocking cases such as this ,if the alleged perpetrators are foreign it causes more anger.It would be just as shocking if they were Irish but local feeling about a lot of immigration in their area comes to the fore.

And it isn’t in the least silly to be reminded that the real victim in this whole sorry mess is the young girl.

Oreo

And it isn’t in the least silly to be reminded that the real victim in this whole sorry mess is the young girl.

Thanks Oreo
She seems to have been forgotten. Distress piled upon distress.

Kircubbin2000
The Roma are not hard working people
How many do you know?
How many have you employed?
I’m assuming that that’s a yes to both questions as you seem certain with your statement.
I’ve known and employed many in Bulgaria and Romania.
Not one of them stole from me or took the piss.
One gang of workers did a particularly big job for me in Arefu ( Romania)
The job was finished on time and very well done. I offered them a bonus which they refused.
I’m not saying for one moment that they are all saints, just like any gang of builders and gardeners.
I have a friend whose business is gold and silver jewellery in the holiday resorts. She took a chance and employed a Roma girl. Her opinion, the best sales woman she has ever employed.
The Roma problem is a chicken and egg conundrum.

growstuff

PS. To David. The majority of traveller children in the UK have Irish roots. Are you now lumping together Irish travellers, Roma and Romanians?

You may be, I certainly didn’t I did mention genuine Romany families being generally OK. In this area I’m not aware of “Roma” from overseas, we do have migrants in at least one hotel but no reports of problems.
Generally we have a lot less migrant workers in town than before Brexit, vegetable harvesting gangs on short term visas, seem to be from Central Asia and appear to socialize within their own group.

growstuff

kircubbin2000

kittylester

Serious question - is there an issue (or a perceived one) with Filipinos in NI.

No not at all Unfortunately Ballymena had a high proportion of low IQ idiots living there and also more come in from other towns . It also had a large heroin problem. This issue concerns 3 Roma 14 year olds who raped the girl. The Roma are not honest hardworking people.

Allegedly raped the girl! They haven't been convicted yet. I'm beginning to think there's a general problem of people with a low IQ in NI.

Full of allegations "idiots" very insulting the ordinary folks of Ballymena. How on earth can you possibly know that kircubbin2000

A post to make an extreme case when we lack clarity as for declaring "idiots..

There are always people ready to join in with any excuse to cause trouble, so it must be borne in mind that there will be an element of this is any riot. Having said that, the populace are being treated with contempt by the governments on all sides. Quietly moaning on Facebook is ignored so more drastic measures are needed. It's just a pity that innocent people will suffer.

mum2three

There are always people ready to join in with any excuse to cause trouble, so it must be borne in mind that there will be an element of this is any riot. Having said that, the populace are being treated with contempt by the governments on all sides. Quietly moaning on Facebook is ignored so more drastic measures are needed. It's just a pity that innocent people will suffer.

None of this has anything to do with alleged sexual assault, the victim of which these thugs couldn't give a damn about. presumably mum2three you think that the government should give mindless yobs what they want. They could start by making them pay for all the damage they've done.

Allira

^How silly^

Do not call me silly
Thank you.

Apologies, I did not mean you were silly, of course not. I mean it is rather unfortunate to assume nobody cares about the victim.
The opening was about riots which appear to have race and colour at their heart.
Having seen footage of Ballymeena, I am appalled. Really.

The police have called them racist thugs.

How are the populace being treated with contempt mum2three?

Whitewavemark2

The police have called them racist thugs.

An accurate description.
As soon as a crime is committed involving children or women and there is a mention of an immigrant being involved that is all Rent-A-Mob need to start a riot.

Sarnia

Whitewavemark2

The police have called them racist thugs.

An accurate description.
As soon as a crime is committed involving children or women and there is a mention of an immigrant being involved that is all Rent-A-Mob need to start a riot.

They are, inevitably, being encouraged by Social Media groups as this BlueSky thread shows

Posts such as this example.

Sunder Katwala (sundersays)
‪@sundersays.bsky.social‬

We are at war post. (The group admins were here asking for people to specifically target the Roma group with intimidation & violence + also saying some of the wider indiscriminate violent attacks on migrants may backfire).

bsky.app/profile/sundersays.bsky.social/post/3lregaiykr22x

lafergar

Allira

How silly

Do not call me silly
Thank you.

Apologies, I did not mean you were silly, of course not. I mean it is rather unfortunate to assume nobody cares about the victim.
The opening was about riots which appear to have race and colour at their heart.
Having seen footage of Ballymeena, I am appalled. Really.

Ok! 🙂
She seems to have been forgotten by those rioting and on social media.

Yes, it must be making her distress so much worse.

It’s frightening to think how quickly and easily society as we know it can just break down.

It seems as though some of the thugs have paramilitary connections and are using the situation to settle old scores and drug-related rackets. People are being threatened for trying to stand up to the bullies. The victims are being specifically targeted with addresses published online.

This has nothing to do with spontaneous anger at a girl being sexually assaulted. In fact, there is no concern shown for her well-being.

MayBee70

It’s frightening to think how quickly and easily society as we know it can just break down.

It must be particularly frightening for the people of Northern Ireland, given the history of tribal/sectarian warfare.

Good God, Maizie, people saying don't attack certain numbers in a street because elderly ( non immigrant) people live there.

This is unbelievable.