Ballymena, Northern Ireland Reuters —

Hundreds of masked rioters attacked police and set homes and cars on fire in the Northern Irish town of Ballymena on Tuesday in the second successive night of disorder that followed a protest over an alleged sexual assault in the town.

Police said they were dealing with “serious disorder” in the town, which is about 45 km (30 miles) from the capital Belfast, and urged people to avoid the area.

Officers in riot gear and driving armoured vans responded with water cannon and plastic baton rounds after being attacked by petrol bombs, scaffolding and rocks that rioters gathered by knocking down nearby walls, a Reuters witness said.

One house was burned out and a police officer vomited after leaving another in a different part of the town that rioter

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