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Police Scotland has agreed to send officers to Northern Ireland after two nights of disorder in Ballymena.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) asked for extra support under mutual aid arrangements following violent scenes in the County Antrim town.
The deployment will involve an undisclosed number of public order officers who are trained to police civil unrest.
A total of 32 PSNI officers have been injured since the protests over an alleged sexual assault began on Monday night.
The force's assistant chief constable, Ryan Henderson, said they would be "surging a significant number of extra officers" into affected areas.
He described the violence as "racist thuggery targeted at ethnic minorities and police officers".
