Innocent families today told of falling victim to last night’s wave of anti-migrant violence in Belfast – as the city braces for further anarchy.
Houses, cars, a bus and a supermarket were set alight as parts of the city descended into chaos, with claims non-white residents were deliberately targeted.
A two-month-old baby was among those rescued from the rioters, while several families have been left homeless after their houses were torched.
It followed the arrest of 30-year-old Sudanese asylum seeker Hadi Alodid, who has been charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie, who lost his left eye.
He was also charged with threats to kill an NHS radiographer while he was being treated in hospital after the attack, as well as possession of a knife.
Bus and train services were cancelled today and some schools and businesses closed early in anticipation of further violence tonight despite calls for calm.
Footage emerged showing thugs smashing the windows of a house using a bin and a plank of wood.
The independent reviewer of terror legislation has said the ‘destabilising’ impact of the attack shows immigration needs to be treated as a national security issue.
Jonathan Hall KC said President Trump raised legitimate concerns about the impact of migration on national security but was met with silence from the UK Government.
He told Today on BBC Radio 4: ‘I’m interested in whether foreign nationality is becoming more relevant to the national security picture. It makes me think of something, which I haven’t really heard a good answer to in the UK, which is what was said in Trump’s national security strategy in November 2025.’
He added: ‘At the moment there are people who happen to be black and brown but are as British as you or me who probably feel they can’t go about their business. That is destabilising to the nation.’
Among those targeted in Belfast were an African family who have lived in the city for 20 years but had to move after their windows were smashed, and a Ukrainian teenager who was forced to flee after her family’s front door caught fire.
In the east of the city, Lendrick Road was swallowed up by flames. Jamie Corry, who has lived there for 13 years, watched in horror as his house was ‘completely’ destroyed by thugs, alongside ‘sentimental’ items belonging to his late father.
‘I came out that door and I told them: ”This is my property, this is my property here,” and then they started to light the red car up,’ he said.
‘So once I saw the flames starting to get bigger and bigger, I moved away from my property, I moved down the street there and watched it all. The next minute the cars started to explode, the doors started smoking, the windows started melting, and the next thing the house was going to go up on fire.’
Congolese man Anselme Shima, who lives nearby with his wife, two sons and daughter, fears his family could be next to be targeted.
He said: ‘It’s just a terrifying moment, we don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next. If this happened (again), is my house the next to be attacked? I don’t know.’
Today, Mr Ogilvie’s family said they were ‘completely devastated’ by the attack but said unrest was ‘not welcome’.
Burnt-out cars and houses pictured today on Lendrick Street
A picture of Lendrick Street in east Belfast as it was engulfed in flames
Congolese man Anselme Shima, who lives nearby, feels his family could be targeted
Footage has emerged showing thugs smashing the front window of a house
A 30-year-old man described by police as a Sudanese asylum seeker granted indefinite leave to remain was charged with attempted murder and will today appear in court
Stephen Ogilvie was named locally as the victim of Monday night’s attack
In a statement posted on the Facebook page of DUP MLA Phillip Brett, they said: ‘We want to say a profound thank you to the local people who bravely stepped in during the attack.
‘We are aware of the tensions and talk of protests following this incident. We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward.
‘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.’
Naomi Long, Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister, said some families with young children have been left homeless after their homes were destroyed.
‘It is just obscene that last night there were young children who had nothing to do with the attack in north Belfast, young families who had nothing to do with the attack in north Belfast, were left homeless, who lost everything because of what happened the night before,’ she told BBC Radio Ulster.
‘Yet they are completely innocent, and it’s completely unacceptable, frankly, what has been done to them.’
Violence also hit the town of Portadown in County Armagh, where a Romanian-owned takeaway was looted and set alight.
Constantin Alin Fechete, owner of Kebabs, Pizza and Indian Takeaway, said the attack amounted to ‘racism’ and asked why ordinary people were being ‘punished’.
‘Vandals smashed up the windows of my shop last night and stole things too,’ he told the Belfast Telegraph. ‘This is racism for sure and it’s not nice.
‘Friends of mine who live on Thomas Street had their homes damaged. We don’t deserve this, I’ve tried to give something to this community. I’m really worried my wife and children will get caught up in this too.’
In Ballyclare, County Antrim the windows of Imaj Turkish Barbers were smashed in. Its owner, Ozer Soysuren, has vowed not to leave the town and said locals helped clear up the damage.
So far, two men, aged 39 and 42, have been charged over the violence, which has been condemned across the political spectrum.
Sir Keir Starmer said the disorder was ‘shocking and completely unacceptable’, adding: ‘It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it.’
‘There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere,’ he wrote on X. ‘It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it. Those responsible will feel the full force of the law.’
Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, condemned the ‘outright thuggery’, saying that ‘groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice’.
Behind the unquestionably damnable violence were grave new questions over a gaping ‘backdoor to Britain’. The Sudanese suspect legally crossed from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland three years ago under a long-standing arrangement which means no passport checks are conducted.
He took a bus from Dublin to Belfast and immediately claimed asylum, the authorities revealed under pressure for answers yesterday. A few months later, the Home Office granted him a five-year visa as a refugee.
There are growing calls for a review of border security measures deployed under the Common Travel Area (CTA), which allows freedom of movement between Ireland and the UK.
Burnt-out cars are seen on McMaster Street following riots in Belfast
A car that was burnt by rioters on Lendrick Street in the east of the city
A Glider bus on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast was one of the first targets to be set alight
The burnt-out shell of the bus being taken away for recycling
A house burns in east Belfast – one of several set on fire during the course of the evening
Another shot of the road, where one of the flaming cars has been turned onto its side
Protesters attack a police vehicle on Sandy Row in Belfast
He added: ‘At the moment there are people who happen to be black and brown but are as British as you or me who probably feel they can’t go about their business. That is destabilising to the nation.’
He pointed out that people from ‘certain countries’ are ‘more likely either to commit very serious offences or particular offences’, which could prove ‘destabilising’ and lead to black or brown people being targeted by mobs.
Yesterday evening, long before it got dark, protesters gathered on the streets across Belfast following calls on social media – including by Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk.
Just before 8pm, masked men dressed in black pushed burning bins up against a bus, setting it ablaze and sending thick smoke into the sky. Houses and cars were also later set alight alongside a Middle Eastern supermarket.
Footage of the chaos shows infants being carried out of neighbouring houses as flames engulf the properties.
Pastor Jack McKee, at one such scene on Crumlin Road, in the city’s north, told BBC News that residents were being hounded from their homes ‘because they’re black’.
In the Lower Newtownards Road area, around 100 masked men made their way down the street kicking in doors and smashing windows, saying they were ‘getting the foreigners out’, the BBC reported.
It was also reported that groups of locals had set up checkpoints and were checking passing cars for foreign nationals.
The dramatic scenes began unfolding at around 8pm, soon after crowds started gathering, when protesters pushed a flaming bin into a Glider bus on the Newtownards Road, burning it to a cinder.
Police vehicles also came under attack from bricks and vandals climbing on top of them, and at least one was set on fire.
Around 20 miles outside Belfast, in County Antrim, a Turkish barber shop was attacked, with its front door and windows smashed in.
The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said it attended 62 incidents, mainly in the Greater Belfast area.
PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher condemned the violence as ‘self-harm by mindless idiots’ and said it had claimed numerous innocent victims.
‘Last night we rescued so many families,’ he told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster. ‘Taking families – a baby as young as two months – out of their address to safety, taking them to police stations.’
He added: ‘And by the way, these weren’t just families from ethnic minority communities, these were families from across communities that were caught up in this vile behaviour last night. There is absolutely no excuse for it.’
In a press conference later today, he vowed that his force would ‘go after’ people ‘inciting’ violence on social media.
Anti-immigrant protests also took place in several other cities around the UK on Tuesday night, including London, Southampton and Glasgow, where two police officers and three members of the public were injured.
Police forces across the UK are monitoring intelligence on protests and have plans in place to allow them to mobilise officers if needed should further disorder break out.
PSNI assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson warned that the violence ‘damages communities, damages local businesses and brings young people into the criminal justice system when they shouldn’t be’.
Fire crews worked into the night to subdue fires burning at several sites around the city
A masked protester prepares to throw a brick at police on York Road in North Belfast
The chaos was later met with strong words from Ms O’Neill, who said: ‘This has nothing to do with community. This is outright thuggery.
‘The attack in north Belfast was heinous and wrong. But there are dangerous attempts to exploit that, to target and attack innocent people who are simply trying to live, work and raise their families here.’
She added that racism, intimidation and violence were wrong wherever it occurred.
‘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,’ she said.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly reiterated that ‘violence does not advance any cause, it damages it’, adding: ‘Destroying things within your own community benefits no one.’
Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said ‘bad-faith’ actors stoking racial tensions on social media should ‘step away from their keyboards’, adding: ‘If you weren’t interested in Northern Ireland on Sunday, you don’t need to show interest in Northern Ireland today.’
Speaking on BBC Breakfast today, Ms Long said: ‘Let us get on with the job of trying to bring calm to our streets, of trying to rebuild our community, of reassuring both people who live in North Belfast and across Belfast.’
She added: ‘We recognise in Northern Ireland that immigration is a vexed issue, and there is a conversation that we can have rationally and logically about that, but there are others who weaponize it to stir up racial tensions, to stir up division in communities.’
The horrific street stabbing on Monday night prompted calls for a review of border security measures deployed under the so-called Common Travel Area, or CTA, which encompasses the UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Earlier, following repeated questions about the suspect’s immigration status, Jon Boutcher confirmed the alleged knifeman had travelled from Sudan to Paris and then on to Dublin, before taking a bus into the UK in February 2023.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said he did not know the answer to the ‘legitimate question’ of how he arrived here
Michelle O’Neill condemned the ‘outright thuggery’ on Belfast’s streets
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘The CTA means the UK relies on the Republic of Ireland to secure its border, and any weakness in the Irish border is also a weakness in ours.
‘Clearly, a lot more must be done to prevent the CTA operating as a backdoor to the UK for illegal immigrants. We need a review into border security measures in the interests of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.’
Under the CTA, a key part of the Good Friday Agreement, there are typically no checks on travellers between the Republic and Northern Ireland, nor any on journeys to mainland Britain.
David Wood, the Home Office’s director of immigration enforcement until 2015, said: ‘The CTA has always been a weakness and on some days we used to find that there were no checks at all being conducted at Dublin airport.
‘Anyone arriving in the Republic can be in London, Manchester or wherever they want to be within a day or two.
‘The CTA is an abused route and it’s always been an abused route.’
A 2010 assessment by the UK’s Cross Border Organised Crime Group concluded that ‘Ireland can be used as a back door to gain access to the United Kingdom and vice versa’.
The following year, a report by then Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration John Vine urged the Home Office to ‘strengthen’ measures to prevent abuse of the CTA.
Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister, Naomi Long, said yesterday: ‘What we don’t want on either side of the border is to see the CTA being exploited for ill purposes.’
Home Office sources said there was no record of the suspect being in the UK before 2023. Horror unfolded at around 10.30pm on Monday night in Kinnaird Avenue, north Belfast, a majority Roman Catholic area.
Hero Matt McKiernan was armed only with a wooden stick when he led a trio of members of the public to rescue the attacker’s victim from death
Matt McKiernan (left) was armed only with a wooden stick when he led a trio of members of the public who tried to rescue the attacker’s victim from certain death
Graphic video footage filmed by witnesses and shared on social media showed a man armed with a knife pinning another man to the ground before repeatedly striking him to the face and neck.
Before police arrived, the suspect was tackled by brave passers-by, including removals firm boss Matt McKiernan, who used his son’s hurling stick to try to stop the attack, hitting the knifeman several times.
Last night he told the Daily Mail: ‘We could see what looked to be two men fighting in the street, with one on top of the other.
‘We thought we better go and break it up. [My friend] Andre was in the front passenger seat and he jumped out first.
‘But as he got closer he saw the knife. He shouted to me… to get something to help.’
