Destructive anti-immigration protests have erupted in Northern Ireland after disturbing footage emerged of an attempted beheading on the streets of Belfast. A Sudanese asylum seeker was charged with attempted murder over the brutal alleged knife attack, which left a man in his 40s in hospital with stab wounds to his eyes, face, and back.
Violence Erupts in Belfast
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it would boost officer numbers in the capital city after hundreds of protesters dressed in black and wearing face masks set buildings alight and attacked police armoured vehicles on Tuesday night local time. Police helicopters patrolled above the city, and shops closed early. A bus also caught fire, according to reports from AFP.
Images from the protest show roads cordoned off by police and armoured vehicles deployed to contain protesters. A bus was set alight in East Belfast, and protesters scaled police armoured vehicles. Others show homes and cars ablaze down a residential street, with fire service personnel on the scene. Rioters were also seen pelting objects at police and scaling armoured cars.
Targeted Attacks on Businesses
Rioters also set fire to a Middle Eastern supermarket, according to locals who spoke with Sky News UK. Some areas of Belfast are described as a “ghost town,” with businesses and restaurants closing to avoid the mayhem. One man told Sky News UK that some protesters are alleged to be “stopping cars and checking nationalities of people.”
Northern Ireland’s First Minister accused rioters of “burning families out of their homes.” She wrote on X: “This is nothing less than disgusting cowardice. This has nothing to do with community. This is outright thuggery. The attack in North Belfast was heinous and wrong.”
Protests Spread to England
Meanwhile, protests have broken out in Southampton, England, against the housing of migrants in a nearby hotel. It comes as the Sudanese suspect arrested after the horrifying “attempted beheading” in Belfast has leave to remain in the UK, police confirmed. The fresh information proves that the man was an immigrant who had recently entered the UK.
The new revelation is likely to fuel Britain’s far-right groups, with immigration detractors already sparking violence in the past week over the death of Henry Nowak, a white teen who was stabbed to death by a Sikh man.
Bus Services Cancelled
The disclosure comes as tensions rise in Northern Ireland. All bus services in Belfast were cancelled on Tuesday night after a bus was set alight in a pro-British area near the city centre. Crowds have gathered in other parts of the city as well as in nearby Antrim. A motorway was blocked by protesters. Demonstrations have also been seen in other UK cities following the attack, with people carrying UK and England flags.
Details of the Attack
Police said the Belfast victim – a man in his 40s – suffered “significant” injuries to his eyes in the brutal attack, which was shockingly caught on video. Graphic mobile phone footage of the incident showed a man straddling the bloodied victim’s chest and hacking at his neck as bystanders screamed, “he’s trying to cut his head off.”
“He’s just killed him, hurry up!” a man says in the video. As the victim struggles weakly to get away, the attacker raises what appears to be a small knife in the air and screams something unintelligible in a foreign language. “Get off him ya f**kin rat!” a woman yells. The attacker then takes the knife to the man’s throat in front of the horrified witnesses as the victim groans.
“He’s trying to cut his head off! Hurry up! He’s slicing his head off!” the man says. Bystanders rush in and attempt to overpower the attacker, with one yelling, “kill him!” The sound of something metal can be heard hitting the ground as another local rushes in and begins whacking the offender in the head with a hurling stick.
The attacker falls to the ground but refuses to release the victim from the headlock. Another bystander kicks the offender in the head before police arrive at the scene and rush into the commotion.
Police Response
The PSNI confirmed one man was in custody. “Police in north Belfast are currently in attendance at Kinnaird Ave following the report of a stabbing incident shortly after 10.30pm on Monday, June 8,” police said in a statement. “A man has been arrested in relation to the incident and is in police custody, while a second man has been taken to hospital with serious injuries.”
Police later confirmed they had arrested a Sudanese man in his 30s, who is understood to have lived in the area, on suspicion of attempted murder. Officers will remain at the crime scene and have asked for witnesses or anyone with dashcam or CCTV footage of the incident to come forward.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the attack was “sickening” and he will have “absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets.” “My thoughts are first and foremost with the victim, and I thank the first responders, including members of the public who intervened,” he added.
