Portadown protesters face pepper spray while police see yet more petrol bombs lobbed at them

Portadown became the focus of protesters' fury on Thursday night, while riot police worked to control the violence that has spread from Ballymena to towns across NI

Communities in Northern Ireland are experiencing a shocking fourth day of fear and anxiety as masked protesters continue to wreak havoc and commit acts of fiery vandalism on residential neighbourhoods. On Thursday night, the focal point for the anti-immigrant crowds was Portadown, Co Armagh.

One of the protesters filming the standoff with PSNI riot cops in Portadown could be seen on video being aggressively shoved by an officer, who brandishes a pepper spray in his direction while dealing with the unruly crowds.

The policeman can be heard saying "You're going nowhere" while the man claims innocence, saying: "Hang on boys. I'm going home, you going to pepper spray me for going home?" However, unlike the more than 40 officers injured this week, the man appears to walk away unharmed.

At the same time, with PSNI officers were attempting to manage the situation across the town, a group of police sheltered behind riot vans while crowds chucked projectiles in their direction.

In a chilling reminder of the violence faced by law enforcement this week, one group can be heard cheering after a thrown petrol bomb explodes against a police vehicle.

This is the first night of violent unrest in Portadown, but the fourth for the wider communities who have seen cars torched and homes set alight every night since Monday's riot in Ballymena.

Yesterday, masked groups engaged in what PSNI has called "racist thuggery", burning down a community leisure centre in Larne under the belief that it was housing migrants who had fled Ballymena. Groups also disrupted rail services after dragging wheelie bins onto the tracks that run through Coleraine, Co Derry, and setting them alight, causing serious damage to the rails.

Today, PSNI revealed in a press conference that the victim of the alleged sexual assault in Ballymena that ignited the protests, has been left 'mortified' by the extreme violence that has rocked her town and left migrants hiding in their attics from masked gangs.

PSNI Chief Constable said: “The people who protested about what happened to this poor victim on Monday, they did lawful protest.

“The people who are threatening families, who are different to them, who are law abiding members of our community, that is racism and it’s criminality, and there’s no place for it in our society. History has shown us here more than anywhere, what happens when communities fracture.

“We, of all, people, should have learned from that, and we have. So let’s not stand for this nonsense any longer.”

Asked to elaborate, he said he can see “no other reason” for people to focus on targeting families “from ethnic and diverse backgrounds”, after some criticised the force for describing the protesters as "racist".