Antisocial behaviour on the streets ‘absolutely wrong’ and a ‘serious issue’

Antisocial behaviour on the streets is “absolutely wrong” and a “serious issue”, the Stormont deputy First Minister has said.

Emma Little-Pengelly was speaking after scenes in the Newtownards Road in east Belfast on Saturday evening.

Police said while a planned parade in the area had passed off peacefully, disorder broke out later which saw two fast food restaurants having to close after large groups of young people gathered in the area, engaged in disorderly behaviour and smashed one of the windows.

Speaking in the Assembly during Executive Office questions on Monday, Ms Little-Pengelly expressed concern about the scenes in east Belfast, as well as disorder in Londonderry last week.

“I think this is a really serious issue,” she said.

“We don’t want to see young people partaking in this type of activity on the streets of Belfast or elsewhere.

“Over recent years, we have seen this flare up from time to time. I’m conscious of a number of videos around Bangor, for example, this time east Belfast, fuelled by a range of things, it looks partly by alcohol, I’m not sure what else.”

She said the Executive Office will do “everything it can” to put support in the right places.

“The key message is that this type of behaviour is not wanted on our streets,” she said.

“We have a number of really good community organisations working with young people, really good results coming out of that, and certainly through the funding streams within the Executive Office, we’ll be doing everything that we can to make sure that we’ve got the right help and support in the right places.

“We are looking at diversionary activities where we can but also that we’re working to make sure that there is community resilience, both within the general community, but for our young people as well, that they don’t get dragged into this type of behaviour.”