Masked men burned families out of their homes in Belfast on Tuesday night in a wave of anti-immigrant violence that erupted after a Sudanese man was charged over a knife attack, Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill said.
“There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight,” O’Neill said. “Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice.”
Hundreds of protesters, many with their faces covered, attacked police and set fire to vehicles at multiple locations across Northern Ireland after video of the knife attack went viral. A number of homes were seen burning in the city on Tuesday evening. BBC footage showed police helping a family escape from a burning building. A crowd of around 100 men was reported to have kicked in doors and broken windows on a street in east Belfast, and a bus was set alight in the east of the city.
“They’re getting put out just because they’re black,” Pastor Jack McKee told the BBC after attacks on homes in the north of the city.
The suspect, a 30-year-old Sudanese national, was charged on Tuesday evening with attempted murder, possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place, and threats to kill. He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
The knife attack took place in north Belfast late on Monday evening. The victim, a man in his 40s, suffered significant injuries to his eyes and slash wounds to his face and back during what Northern Ireland’s Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson described as a “brutal” attack, with a kitchen knife found at the scene. Footage showed members of the public attempting to fight off the attacker before police arrived; senior officers credited their intervention with saving the victim’s life. The attack is not currently being treated as terrorism.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the knife attack as “sickening.” Police deployed armoured vehicles across Belfast as masked youths gathered at multiple points in the city.
HEIGHTENED TENSIONS
Northern Ireland’s main political party leaders jointly condemned both the knife attack, calling it “horrific,” and the subsequent violence, appealing for calm and warning that the disturbances would only damage their own communities.
The unrest comes amid heightened tensions in Britain following the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds, after his killer — a Sikh man — falsely alleged a racist attack. It also follows repeated protests over immigration policy, with populist parties arguing that Britain’s asylum system had allowed dangerous individuals into the country. Anti-immigrant rioting occurred in Northern Ireland last year amid anger over an alleged sexual assault.
(Reuters)