Anti-immigration protests have been taking place in Northern Ireland for the third night in a row, and they have turned into riots, The Times reports.

On Wednesday evening, protesters in Ballymena town again threw Molotov cocktails, firecrackers, and stones at law enforcement officers. Police responded with water cannons and rubber bullets to disperse the protesters.

This time, the unrest spread to the nearby town of Larne, where protesters set fire to a recreation center that was sheltering people displaced from Ballymena after their homes were destroyed.

Anti-immigration protests in Ballymena began Monday evening after the alleged rape of a minor girl. She was allegedly raped in Ballymena on the evening of June 7. Two 14-year-old boys were detained in connection with the incident. On Monday, they appeared before the town court via video link, they were charged with attempted rape, but they both denied the charge. The suspects had answered the judge's questions with the help of a Romanian translator, the BBC reported.