Good morning. Hilary Benn, the Northern Ireland secretary, has accused individuals online of attempting to incite disorder in Belfast following two consecutive nights of unrest in the city after a knife attack.
This comes after a second night of violent unrest in the area, where police deployed a water cannon to disperse a crowd of approximately 300 people. The crowd set a truck on fire and hurled bricks and petrol bombs near the Sandyknowes roundabout close to Newtownabbey, about eight miles north of Belfast.
Benn reported that 12 police officers were injured and 16 arrests were made during the second night of unrest. Video footage showed dozens of men dressed entirely in black and wearing face coverings gathering on Antrim Road. They were seen tearing bricks from properties and smashing paving stones with sledgehammers to create projectiles to throw at police.
Rioters attempted to set fire to a derelict property near a petrol station in Newtownabbey, with some throwing petrol bombs at police lines. They also took wheelie bins from outside homes and started fires in them. Some of these protesters reportedly planned to target a nearby hotel believed to host migrants.
These anti-immigration protests, some of which turned violent, began on Tuesday in response to a knife attack. Sudanese national Hadi Alodid, 30, of Duncairn Avenue, Belfast, was charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie on Monday. He was also charged with possessing a knife in a public place on Kinnaird Avenue on the same day.
The Guardian’s report from Wednesday night described scenes of demonstrators tearing up a garden fence to use as a barricade and shield, and using tyres, furniture, and wheelie bins to start a large fire. A white van was driven into the flames reportedly by a man who left it in gear and jumped out. Police tried to extinguish the flames.
Police Use Water Cannon Against Rioters in Northern Ireland
Now, Benn is accusing people online of trying to incite disorder in Belfast. This comes as figures including Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk have been posting about the riots online, including a list of protest locations posted by Robinson, accompanied by a caption describing the attack as “yet another invader attack on our people.” Later, he claimed that they are “not my protests” and said he was “merely passing on information.”
When asked by BBC Breakfast this morning about the alleged incidents of people’s addresses being shared on social media so that their homes could become targets of potential hate, Benn said: “It is completely unacceptable to direct someone to a particular address because you say, or you think you know, that a particular person lives there.”
“The vast majority of people would be very shocked to know that was going on and the social media companies have a responsibility to take down illegal content, particularly when we’ve been seeing circumstances like we have in Northern Ireland recently,” he added.
Also on BBC Breakfast, Benn said that the recent violent outbursts in Northern Ireland are not a true reflection of the country. “This is not what Northern Ireland is about, it is not the true Northern Ireland, it’s a place full of warm-hearted people,” he said.
“We’re talking about a small number of thugs engaged in this behaviour and now the eyes of the world are on Northern Ireland and that is why this must stop.”
Benn also said on Sky News that ethnic minority people in the region were concerned whether they would be targeted next, adding: “We’ve had reports of people being stopped in their cars to be asked what their nationality is on their way to work, and this is completely unacceptable.”
Asked whether these were racist riots rather than protests, he said: “Well, if you are targeting people on the basis of the colour of their skin how else can you describe them? That is racist thuggery, there’s no question about it at all.”
The family of the stabbing victim, Stephen Ogilvie, condemned the violent protests and appealed for an end to misinformation. Ogilvie is in hospital having lost his left eye in the attack.
Here is the agenda for the day:
- 09.30am: Parliament holding a general debate on the legacy of Jo Cox, almost a decade on from her murder
- Morning: An adjournment to mark the ninth anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire
- Morning: Government responding to second night of unrest in Belfast, and seeing if and how it links to the unrest seen earlier this month in Southampton
- 5.30pm: Scottish first minister’s questions
