The Larne Swimming Club in Larne, Northern Ireland, has had to suspend practices after the leisure center where they practice was set on fire in an act of vandalism. The program is the home club of 2020 and 2024 Irish Olympian Danielle Hill.
“No child should ever be forced to witness masked men in their home community,” Hill said in an Instagram post. “No child should ever have had to witness the site [sic] of individuals in Balaclavas. Let alone understand the fear such images provoke. Yet, last night they did.
“The local leisure centre is a safe place for so many, from young children (as young as six) learning to swim to elderly residents, has now been transformed into a place marked by fear and trauma.”
Hill decried the attacks, which were a spillover of anti-immigrant disorder in nearby Ballymena, as “racism in its rawest and most dangerous form.”
The Larne Swimming Club said on June 12 that “all club activities are suspended until further notice,” saying the attacks caused “appalling and unnecessary damage to the Larne Leisure Centre.”
Nearby Ballymena, a town of over 31,000, has seen a week of anti-immigration riots, where masked individuals attacked police and set homes and cars on fire. The flashpoint came after two 14-year old boys were arrested on charges of serious sexual assault of a teenage girl in Ballymena. The two teenagers spoke Romanian and had a Romanian interpreter in court.
On Friday, police said 63 officers were injured in four nights of violence so far. Anti-racism counterprotests have also begun forming.
First of all, yes the societal strain of immigration including ugly uncomfortable subjects like assimilation and how it can go catastrophically awry need to be addressed by policy makers and for a very long time governments just didn’t at all.
BUT (and I wish swimswam could make that bigger)
“oH gAwD wOn’T sOmEoNe PlEaSe ThInK oF tHe ChIlDreN” -> you live under a rock if you don’t see this dogwhistle for what it really is, (or you support it in which case GFY). We like to tell ourselves we’re so much better then barbaric ancient backwards peoples but that nothing but comical hubris so shamelessly nakedly on display with the moral panic over Gypsies, using that to emphasize… Read more »
Why do I feel like an insane person for wanting the world to chill out for a minute!
History shows us that it’s easier for people to blame the “other” for their problems than to take responsibility for themselves, and tyrants capitalize on this to gain power. Every time we think we’ve evolved as a species incidents like this prove us wrong.
And there will be some more in month.
Meaning?
Meaning the electorate feel ignored and alienated by the politicians and so turn to extreme measures.
No, no and no. They’re taking any excuse to fight and vandalise.
Next month is the 12th July. Traditional Orange Order marches which have a history of violence associated with them.
Well, CBS News did run a report asking if the UK is on the verge of mass civil unrest and even civil war. There are clearly some deep rooted serious issues that are not being addressed and its not just Northern Ireland. Ignoring people’s concerns and dismissing them as thugs and racists is also very dangerous.
Nobody condones violence but I think more should be done to try and understand as to why it is happening. There is a massive disconnect somewhere. When people feel like they’ve lost all hope they will turn to extreme measures.
CBN News (typo)
Meaning a portion of the electorate doesn’t like the decisions of elected officials and so takes the law into it’s own hands, usually at the expense of innocent parties. See Timothy McVeigh.
Unless we lived there, we shouldn’t judge. These people may be fed-up for a reason. Not to condone violence…
Hooligans and thugs.
Ps. Check the username.