Arson, anti-immigrant violence explode across Belfast after stabbing

MANCHESTER, England (CN) — Houses, cars and a bus were burned across Belfast on Tuesday night after a Sudanese man was charged over a knife attack that left a local man with catastrophic injuries, triggering violence that police and politicians said targeted immigrants and ethnic minority families.

The unrest followed the knife attack Monday knight in north Belfast. Thirty-year-old Hadi Alodid, who had refugee status, appeared before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder, possession of a knife in a public place and threats to kill.

The previous night, hundreds of masked men carrying bottles and bricks gathered on one street in north Belfast, setting bins alight and shouting “foreigners out” as disorder spread through parts of the city.

Windows were smashed at homes, vehicles were torched and families fled amid attacks that community leaders said were directed at people because of their race.

Police rescued multiple families from their homes, including a family with a 2-month-old baby, according to Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher.

“Last night we rescued so many families,” Boutcher said Wednesday. “Taking families, a baby as young as 2 months, out of their address to safety, taking them to police stations.”

Violence follows stabbing charge

Court proceedings showed the victim in the attack, Steven Ogilvy, a man in his 40s, lost his left eye and suffered damage to his right eye as well as injuries to his neck and back.

Ogilvy’s family condemned the violence that followed the attack.

“We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward,” the family said. “We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector and we depend on them to make our country work.”

Alodid was remanded in custody for four weeks after a judge refused bail.

Far-right seizes on attack

The violence follows a series of incidents in Britain and Ireland in which far-right activists have used high-profile crimes involving migrants or ethnic minorities to mobilize anti-immigration protests.

A widely shared social media post, apparently created with artificial intelligence, called for a “mass protest” across Northern Ireland and urged businesses to close early Tuesday evening.

The post also called for demonstrations in towns and cities across the U.K.

Among those sharing the message was Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, the far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson.

Yaxley-Lennon, who is frequently amplified by billionaire Elon Musk on X, has been in Russia, where he recently met Musk’s father, Errol Musk, at a Moscow hotel.

Police repeatedly appealed for calm throughout Tuesday, warning against attempts to exploit the stabbing.

But by nightfall, protests had descended into violence.

Pastor Jack McKee, who was in Belfast, said members of his congregation were among those targeted.

“They’re good Christian people and they’re getting put out just because they’re Black,” McKee said. He said church members who had lived in the community for decades saw their windows smashed and neighboring houses set on fire.

Independent councillor Paul Doherty said one affected family included four children who were left traumatized after fleeing their home.

“Homes were attacked, businesses targeted, livelihoods lost and many innocent families terrorized last night because of their color of skin or where they come from,” Doherty said.

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long confirmed claims that people were being targeted because they were Black.

“It is clear that because the alleged perpetrator was of Sudanese origin, rioters were using that to attack others on the basis of their skin color,” said Long. “That is the absolute definition of racism.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the violence, saying people had been attacked because of their background.

“The scenes in Belfast last night were shocking and completely unacceptable,” Starmer said. “There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities.”

Northern Ireland’s devolved government also denounced the attacks.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill, of the Irish Republican party Sinn Féin, called the disorder “outright thuggery,” adding there are attempts to use the attack to “target and attack innocent people who are simply trying to live, work and raise their families here."

Police leaders warned that online misinformation and inflammatory commentary were complicating efforts to maintain order.

“The challenge we face with today’s online toxic nature, and the inciting of hatred, is that that manifests itself by people doing things that they would not ordinarily do,” Boutcher said.

Northern Ireland remains one of the least ethnically diverse parts of the U.K. The 2021 census found that just under 97% of residents identified as white, with Belfast slightly more diverse than the region.

Part of a broader pattern

The disorder follows a pattern seen elsewhere in the U.K. and Ireland, where far-right networks have used high-profile violent crimes to mobilize anti-immigration protests.

Similar unrest followed the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport, England, in July 2024 after false online claims about the attacker’s background spread across social media.

Rioting also erupted in Dublin in 2023 after rumors circulated about the nationality of a man accused of stabbing children outside a school.

Last Tuesday, riots occurred in Southampton after the death of 18-year-old Henry Nowak by a British Sikh. The disorder injured 11 police officers, with 21 people so far being charged.

Political leaders from Northern Ireland’s five main parties issued a rare joint statement condemning the knife attack and urging residents not to allow violence or hatred to divide communities.

They called for calm and said justice should be allowed to take its course.

Police have already begun making arrests linked to the disorder. A 39-year-old man became the first person charged in connection with the violence after officers arrested him in Newtownabbey, County Antrim, on Tuesday. He has been charged with riot.

Courthouse News reporter James Francis Whitehead is based in England.

Follow @jayfranklinlive