Police fire water cannon on second night of anti-immigrant protests in Northern Ireland | CNN

Police in Northern Ireland deployed water cannons as anti-immigrant protests entered their second night on Wednesday after a Sudanese man was charged with attempted murder following a brutal knife attack. Video showed a crowd of protesters hurling objects toward police vehicles, and officers responding by firing water cannons at them in Newtownabbey, eight miles north of Belfast city center. At least 16 people were arrested and two were later charged, police said. Twelve officers were injured, some by Molotov cocktails. The unrest followed a night of more widespread rioting when masked protesters torched homes and vehicles in a wave of anti-immigrant violence that spread after video of the knife attack circulated on social media. Crowds gathered Tuesday in various parts of Belfast, the largest city in Northern Ireland, setting houses, a bus, cars and barricades on fire and forcing several families to flee their homes. Politicians said the rioters had targeted the homes of ethnic minorities. UK minister Ruth Anderson told the House of Lords on Wednesday that dozens of people, including a two-year-old, “were made homeless” as the violence escalated. “Some 27 people were made ho

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