Violence flared for a second night in a Northern Irish town after “racially motivated” attacks following a peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault.

Hundreds of protesters, many of them masked, took to the streets of Ballymena on Tuesday, throwing petrol bombs, bottles and masonry as police responded with water cannon.

There was a heavy police presence in one area of the town, about 30 miles (48km) northwest of Belfast, as protesters set fire to a car and barricades. Police also fired plastic baton rounds to disperse the crowds.

The unrest first erupted on Monday night after a vigil in a neighbourhood where an alleged sexual assault had happened on Saturday.

“This violence was clearly racially motivated and targeted at our minority ethnic community and police,” Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable, said on Tuesday. “It was racist thuggery, pure and simple, and any attempt to justify it or explain it as something else is misplaced.”

Tensions in the town, which has a large migrant population, remained high throughout the day on Tuesday, as residents described the scenes as “terrifying” and said those involved were targeting “foreigners”.

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“Last night, unfortunately, has probably scared a lot of people. We are actively working to identify those responsible and bring them to justice,” said Henderson.

Two teenage boys, charged by police with the attempted rape of a teenage girl, had appeared in court on Monday, where they asked for a Romanian interpreter, local media reports said.

The trouble began when masked people “broke away from the vigil and began to build barricades, stockpiling missiles and attacking properties”, police said.

Security forces also came under “sustained attack” with petrol bombs, fireworks and bricks thrown by rioters, injuring 15 officers, including some who required hospital treatment, according to the force.

Four houses were damaged by fire, and windows and doors of homes and businesses were smashed.

Northern Ireland saw racism-fuelled disorder in August after similar riots in English towns and cities triggered by the fatal stabbing of three young girls in Southport, northwest England.

“Ballymena has a large migrant population; a lot of people actually work in the town and provide excellent work,” said Mayor Jackson Minford.