Anti-immigration protesters torched buildings and vehicles in Belfast on Tuesday evening, blocking roads a day after a stabbing allegedly committed by a Sudanese refugee. The graphic video of the attack shocked the nation.
Chaos Erupts in Belfast
Hundreds of protesters, many masked, gathered at multiple locations across Belfast, according to AFP journalists at the scene. A bus and several cars were set alight, while a building near the city center caught fire, forcing residents to evacuate.
"By 7:30 pm (18:30 GMT) they started a fire in the bins... we heard police cars and sirens," said Eemran, an engineer of Indian origin who has lived in Belfast for just over a year. "More and more people started coming, they started throwing petrol bombs. Suddenly the fire started going... we had smoke inside the building... fire people came in and they said 'go down'."
Camila, a 36-year-old Chilean who moved to Belfast a month ago, described the scene as "scary." "Of course I'm not used to it," she said. "I understand the people's rage but also there are ways of discussing these things more peacefully."
Police and Political Response
Police helicopters patrolled overhead, and shops closed early. Michelle O'Neill, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, condemned the protests and urged calm. "Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice," she said on X. "Racism, intimidation and violence are wrong wherever they occur. There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight. No one wants to see this on our streets and I again appeal for calm."
Crowds also gathered in Antrim, about 25 kilometers west of Belfast. US tech billionaire Elon Musk had earlier retweeted a post by anti-immigration activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, adding: "Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!"
Details of the Stabbing
The suspect in the knife attack, whose name has not been released, was charged late Tuesday with attempted murder, possession of a bladed weapon in a public place, and making threats to kill. The 30-year-old man is due in court on Wednesday. As anti-immigration figures, including Reform party leader Nigel Farage and Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, demanded details about the attacker, the interior ministry confirmed he was a Sudanese refugee with a residence permit valid until 2028.
Northern Ireland police chief Jon Boutcher said the suspect arrived in the UK in 2023 via Paris and Dublin. The victim, a man in his 40s, was taken to hospital with significant injuries to his eyes and serious slash wounds to his back and face, according to police.
Wider Context
Tensions were already high in Britain after violent skirmishes last week in Southampton, southern England, over police handling of the murder of a young white student stabbed to death by a British Sikh man. On Tuesday, dozens of demonstrators gathered there outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, carrying banners reading "no racism, just patriotism" and "enough is enough."
The video from Belfast shows a man straddling another man lying in a street and slashing him several times in the head and neck with a knife, in what far-right figures claimed was an attempted beheading. Several people intervened, one wielding a hurling stick, tackling the perpetrator as police arrived.
A 31-year-old mother-of-one living nearby said the incident terrified the neighborhood. "We're just living in fear now," she told AFP.
Official Condemnation
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the incident "horrific" and "sickening" on X. The leaders of Northern Ireland's five main political parties issued a joint statement condemning the incident, saying "there is no place in our society for this kind of brutality." They urged people not to share the video, noting its "graphic nature would only serve to retraumatise those involved."
Numerous social media accounts linked to so-called "patriots" shared the footage, urging people to "protest against mass immigration into their communities." The UK interior ministry confirmed the Sudanese suspect entered the country in 2023 and acquired refugee status the same year, allowing him to remain until 2028. "There is no trace of this suspect on any of our national security databases, and he was not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland," police chief Boutcher said.
Immigration has become a hot-button issue in Britain and helped fuel the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party in the polls.
