Elon Musk’s X will face no action to remove a mass of posts inciting violence in Northern Ireland for at least two months – despite widespread condemnation of the platform and its billionaire owner, write Peter Walker, Hannah Al-Othman, Rory Carroll and Vikram Dodd.
Concern over the role social media played in spreading disturbing images and fuelling anger continued to grow on Wednesday as police and community leaders urged calm.
They feared a repeat of the violence that erupted on Tuesday evening, when crowds, including masked men, burned vehicles and houses, and blocked roads in and around Belfast.
Locals from ethnic minorities were targeted in what one Northern Ireland MP called “a race-based pogrom”.
Earlier, Musk rejected claims that he is to blame for inciting disorder in Belfast.
Keir Starmer vowed on Wednesday to crack down on anyone fuelling such divisions, and said there was no justification for the scenes of violence and disorder.
Ministers plan to amend the Online Safety Act to require social media firms to act more quickly to remove inflammatory content during riots or other crises, but this will not take effect until mid-July at the earliest.
In the meantime, the government will leave any official reprimand of X to Ofcom. The media regulator is awaiting a first quarterly report on compliance from X, but this is not due for at least two months.
As darkness began to fall, and with the flames of the bonfire reaching two metres high, police again deployed water cannons and played a recorded message warning the crowd to “disperse immediately” saying force would be used against “violent individuals”.
Police have asked the public to avoid the Antrim Road area in Glengormley as officers continue to deal with disorder.
A police spokesperson confirmed that missiles, including bricks, bottles and masonry, have been thrown at police, and a bin has been set alight.
At the other side of the barricade, facing the line of riot police, the mob had set a bonfire in the street, using petrol to burn wheelie bins, tyres and furniture.
Some threw petrol bombs onto the flames, while others threw fireworks at police, as a huge plume of acrid black smoke stretched skywards.
By 10.30pm there were still two to three hundred rioters and onlookers out on the street as the clashes continued.
A large Department for Infrastructure vehicle was in flames as demonstrators confronted the police after they gathered near the Sandyknowes roundabout in Newtownabbey to the north west of Belfast.
Footage showed dozens of men dressed all in black and wearing face coverings gathering on Antrim Road, where they could be seen tearing bricks from properties and smashing paving stones with sledgehammers to create projectiles to throw at riot police.
They could also be seen taking wheelie bins from outside homes and lighting fires in them.
Balaclava-clad rioters also broke open a metal fence to access the Sandyknowes Wastewater Pumping Station and removed a garden fence to use as a shield against the police water cannon.
Videos shared on social media showed protesters attempting to march to the Chimney Corner Hotel, with riot police and several vans being deployed to manage the demonstrations.
At one point, police turned the water cannons on the gathered spectators, who briefly pushed back further into the park. Later, one onlooker had to be given first aid by armed police after being hit on the head by a flying rock and taken to hospital by ambulance.
One police officer was also struck on the head, but not believed to be seriously injured. One of the police vehicles also lost a wing mirror after being attacked.
Riot police have run towards masked people who attempted to hit them with bricks and other projectiles in Newtownabbey.
Footage showed rioters retreating down Antrim Road in the area of Co Antrim north of Belfast as a line of riot police and vehicles approached them.
The rioters have set fire to wheelie bins and removed a garden fence to use as a shield against a police water cannon – with police vehicles driving over the fence.
Balaclava-clad rioters were also seen breaking open a metal fence to access the Sandyknowes Wastewater Pumping Station.
An 18-year-old man has been arrested after a petrol bomb was thrown at two police officers during disorder in Carrickfergus on Tuesday night.
Police said one officer was taken to hospital for treatment while the other was treated at the scene.
The man was arrested on suspicion of riot at an address in Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, on Wednesday.
According to locals, the mob had attempted to target the hotel, but it had already been closed off by police. One said officers had tried to move residents earlier in the day, but some did not want to leave.
Instead, violence spilled into a nearby residential street. Police and their vehicles were pelted with bricks, rocks and wheelie bins, in a standoff lasting several hours.
A group of spectators gathered in a nearby park to watch, some filming the violence, with one rioter shouting: “Put your fucking phones away or you’re fucking next.”
Bricks, wheelie bins and traffic cones are being launched towards police to the north of Belfast by masked rioters as the disorder intensifies.
Footage showed rioters wearing face coverings and all-black outfits, advancing towards police on Antrim Road in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, and attempting to hit officers with projectiles.
Some rioters could be seen kicking police vehicles, although the demonstrators retreated after a water cannon was deployed by riot police.
Masked demonstrators are tearing bricks from properties and smashing paving stones with sledgehammers to create projectiles to throw at riot police.
Footage showed demonstrators kicking bricks off a property on Antrim Road in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, and then throwing them at a line of police vehicles.
The balaclava-clad demonstrators could also be seen taking wheelie bins from outside homes and lighting fires in them.
Crowds remain at the Sandyknowes roundabout in Co Antrim while police issue warnings and a number of fires burn across the road at the major junction just north of Belfast.
There are intermittent attacks, with rocks and other masonry being thrown at police lines by the crowd. Officers responded by deploying water cannons.
On the other side of the roundabout, a vehicle for emptying gullies has been set alight in a Department for Infrastructure depot, which firefighters are dealing with.
Elon Musk’s X will face no action to remove a mass of posts inciting violence in Northern Ireland for at least two months – despite widespread condemnation of the platform and its billionaire owner, write Peter Walker, Hannah Al-Othman, Rory Carroll and Vikram Dodd.
Concern over the role social media played in spreading disturbing images and fuelling anger continued to grow on Wednesday as police and community leaders urged calm.
They feared a repeat of the violence that erupted on Tuesday evening, when crowds, including masked men, burned vehicles and houses, and blocked roads in and around Belfast.
Locals from ethnic minorities were targeted in what one Northern Ireland MP called “a race-based pogrom”.
Earlier, Musk rejected claims that he is to blame for inciting disorder in Belfast.
Keir Starmer vowed on Wednesday to crack down on anyone fuelling such divisions, and said there was no justification for the scenes of violence and disorder.
Ministers plan to amend the Online Safety Act to require social media firms to act more quickly to remove inflammatory content during riots or other crises, but this will not take effect until mid-July at the earliest.
In the meantime, the government will leave any official reprimand of X to Ofcom. The media regulator is awaiting a first quarterly report on compliance from X, but this is not due for at least two months.
Riot police are moving towards masked protesters who threw bricks at officers in confrontations north of Belfast.
Footage showed police vehicles, including a water cannon, advancing down Antrim Road in Newtownabbey, Co Antrim, while demonstrators, wearing balaclavas and face coverings, retreated.
The masked protesters could be seen gathering piles of bricks and throwing them at police.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said officers have “deployed the water cannon” to maintain public order after missiles were thrown at police.
In a post on social media, the PSNI said: “Motorists advised to avoid the Sandyknowes Roundabout area of Newtownabbey due to ongoing disorder this evening.
“Crowds have gathered & missiles are being thrown at officers who have now deployed the water cannon in an attempt to maintain public order.”
A vehicle appears to have set alight in Belfast as riot police were deployed to deal with demonstrations on Wednesday night.
Smoke, visible on TrafficWatchNI cameras for the M2, could be seen billowing upwards near the Sandyknowes roundabout in Newtownabbey, which is about eight miles northwest of Belfast city centre.
Videos and posts shared on social media showed protesters attempting to march to the Chimney Corner Hotel, with riot police and several vans being deployed to manage the demonstrations.
On Wednesday night violence broke out on the outskirts of Glengormley, around six miles outside of Belfast city centre.
A group of around 300 people, mostly men in dark clothing and face coverings had gathered, reportedly to target a hotel housing migrants nearby.
Police moved in with water cannons to try to disperse protesters, who pelted their vans and riot shields with rocks. One young protester in a balaclava in the colours of the union flag repeatedly coming forward to take aim at police.
“Attention, attention, disperse immediately or water cannons will be used, no further warnings will be given,” blared from the police vehicles.
An older woman sat in a bus stop between the line or riot police and protesters, pulling up her hood to shield herself from the water. “She said she’s lived through the Troubles, she not going to move,” another woman said.
Aerial footage has captured police deploying a water cannon being used to disperse the crowd at Sandyknowes roundabout in Newtownabbey.
Protesters could be seen firing objects including bricks and letting off fireworks at officers before retreating.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
