Filipino families flee Northern Irish home after night of anti immigrant violence

BALLYMENA, Northern Ireland - Michael Sancio, a resident of the Northern Irish town of Ballymena, said he was woken at midnight on Tuesday by masked men banging loudly on windows.

Sancio, his wife and daughter, and a couple who share their house - all originally from the Philippines - grabbed their passports and a few belongings and fled their home, sleeping at a friends house on Tuesday night. They said they plan to stay further outside the town on Wednesday because they feel unsafe at home.

Hundreds of masked rioters attacked police and set homes and cars on fire in the town of 30,000 people for a second successive night on Tuesday. Police are investigating the damaging of property as racially-motivated hate crimes.

Last night I woke up at 12 midnight because I heard some people outside, and I saw in the window, I saw the other guys wearing a black jacket and black pants, and also theyre wearing a mask, Sancio, 27, told Reuters on Wednesday.

They started banging the window of our neighbours so I panicked because I have a daughter inside that house.

The rioters smashed the windows of the couples car that was parked outside the house and set it and a bin on fire, said Sancio, who works at a local bus manufacturer.

The violence erupted after two 14-year-old boys were arrested and appeared in court, accused of a serious sexual assault on a teenage girl in Ballymena, a town with a relatively large migrant population located 28 miles (45 km) from Belfast.

The charges were read via a Romanian interpreter to the boys, the BBC reported, adding that the lawyer told the court that they denied the charges.

Anti-migrant violence is rare in Northern Ireland, which for decades has been more familiar with sectarian