I thank the Member for her contribution. She is absolutely right: we must stand against violence and intimidation, and we must address the issues in local communities that people wish to raise — we will do that on an ongoing basis — but those issues should never be used as justification for violence or attacks.

We also recognise that the majority of those who participated in protests last weekend did so without malicious intent and took part in no criminality. Many of those protests did not make the news. We are disappointed that some parties have labelled all participants as racists or fascists. However, we also fully accept that with fundamental freedoms comes responsibility. I implore anyone who is thinking of joining a public demonstration in the coming days to think carefully about whether their attendance could give succour to the criminal elements who wish to undermine the rule of law. That includes those who wish to abuse protests, create mayhem and exploit young people from the shadows. In the same way that wrecking your own community is entirely counterproductive to securing investment in it, political leaders who ignore genuinely held concerns of protesters take us further away from a solution, not closer to it.

The DUP wants to see meaningful dialogue with communities throughout Belfast and, indeed, our Province, and that is what we are engaged in day and daily. Violence is never justified, nor should it be an excuse for public bodies or politicians to run away from the problems and do nothing. We commend the professionalism of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, whose officers stood in the gap to confront the thugs who were intent on wreaking havoc and to protect businesses and premises that were under threat of attack. This remains a very fast-moving situation, and it is to the credit of every officer that the service was able to respond effectively and that officers were visible on the streets of our capital city. The police investigation of the disorder and arrests should be evidence-led, wherever that leads. As police forces in England and Wales receive offers of additional specialist support, the PSNI is working minor miracles to uphold the law with dwindling resources and record low numbers of police officers. We cannot reverse overnight the neglect of policing budgets under the watch of successive Justice Ministers. However, it is vital that the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, working closely with Executive Ministers, urgently examine what additional support can be provided to the Chief Constable and his officers in the coming days.

We cannot ignore the fact that events on the streets of Belfast were part of a spate of violence seen nationally across the UK. There has also been societal unrest in Dublin and other parts of the Republic of Ireland. If we are to stop this happening again, it will require a collective response from the UK Government and the devolved Administrations to forge policies that sustainably address concerns, including around the control of our borders. There also needs to be a serious conversation about how we can do more to crack down on the anonymous social media accounts of malicious individuals who are instrumental in sowing the seeds of violence of this kind, often through misinformation. The authorities should not be left to pick up the pieces because of a failure to crack down on social media platforms that are not doing enough to tackle hate online.

As Members will have seen, our amendment takes nothing away from the wording of the motion but adds that the right to peaceful protest, including for those who protested outside Parliament Buildings this morning, is a fundamental pillar of any democracy and must be protected and that those who resort to violence and orchestrate public disorder on our streets should face the full rigour of the law. Our amendment:

"urges the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, working closely with the Executive, to provide additional resources to the Chief Constable in order to maintain an agile and effective police response".

We urge the House to accept the amendment.