PSNI chief warns Ballymena rioters ‘we will arrest you’

Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Chief Constable Jon Boutcher warned ‘stop this violence… we will come after you’. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

Northern Ireland’s police chief Jon Boutcher has warned “bigots and racists” behind three nights of disorder in the region that his officers will be coming after them.

Mr Boutcher said a young girl who was the victim of an alleged sexual assault in Ballymena at the weekend – an incident that triggered protests that descended into violence in the Co Antrim town – had been “further traumatised” by the rioting that has been witnessed since Monday.