Demonstrators burned homes and cars in Belfast last night as hundreds of masked protestors took to the streets in response to the arrest of a Sudanese migrant over a brutal knife attack caught on camera.
Houses, cars and a bus were torched across the city, amid suggestions that non-white residents were deliberately targeted by some of the fires.
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’.
The unrest came in direct response to the horrific stabbing attack the night before, when a Sudanese migrant inflicted knife wounds to a man’s face, neck and back in a residential Belfast street.
Described by police as a 30-year-old asylum seeker who had been granted indefinite leave to remain, the suspect was last night charged with attempted murder and will appear in court today. He arrived in the UK on a bus from Dublin to Belfast after having made his way to Ireland from France following his departure from Sudan.
The victim was revealed to be Stephen Ogilvie, in his 40s, who last night remained in a serious condition in hospital. It is understood he lived in the same block of social housing as the suspect.
Footage of the attack circulated on social media, and news of the suspect’s history stoked frustration with the lack of checks on migrants entering the country.
Hundreds of masked protesters defied ministers’ calls for calm by amassing in the streets of Northern Ireland’s capital, leading to violent clashes with police.
Lendrick Street in east Belfast was engulfed in flames, with multiple cars and at least one house ablaze
Hundreds of masked men defied government ministers’ calls for calm to take to the streets
A Glider bus on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast was one of the first targets to be set alight
Stephen Ogilvie was revealed to be the victim of Monday night’s attack
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
Residents were evacuated from their homes after houses were set on fire on several streets, and a Middle Eastern supermarket was also set ablaze.
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’. Lendrick Road in east Belfast was another swallowed up by flames.
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.
Anti-immigrant protests also took place in several other cities around the UK on Tuesday night, including London, Glasgow, and Southampton.
A young man smiles at the camera in front of a burning barricade on Duncairn Gardens
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
Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), sought to quell the ‘sporadic pockets of disorder’ soon after the potential for serious disorder became clear.
He urged ‘everyone to remain calm, act responsibly, and avoid any activity that could place themselves or others at risk’, and said officers were ‘on the ground, working alongside partner agencies, responding to incidents as they arise’.
The PSNI also issued a Police Dispersal Order and warned protesters that force may be used to protect public safety.
The disorder 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 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,’ 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.’
But behind the unquestionably damnable violence were grave new questions over a gaping ‘backdoor to Britain’.
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 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, amid pressure for answers yesterday.
A few months later, the Home Office granted him a five-year visa as a refugee.
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.
Officers have said they did not believe the attack was related to terrorism.
Earlier, following repeated questions about the suspect’s immigration status, Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable 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.
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.’
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
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.’
The victim remained in hospital last night, where he was being treated for serious eye, face and back wounds, police said.
The Belfast Telegraph reported that witnesses fear he was blinded in the attack. The suspect was last night charged with attempted murder, possession of an article with blade or point in a public place and threats to kill.
In Northern Ireland, the authorities do not release the name of accused persons before they appear in court.
In a press conference, Northern Ireland deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly called on the British government to address concerns about migrants of unknown status freely entering Northern Ireland across the Irish border.
‘We have been aware for some considerable time that there are people coming across the Irish border to claim asylum in Northern Ireland,’ she said.
‘Those people, very often we do not know their background, we do not know the routes that they come through, and we do not know if they have any convictions or any history in another jurisdiction.’
Nigel Farage, on a visit to Grangemouth in Scotland, said the attack was ‘absolutely shocking, barbaric, ghastly’.
The Reform UK leader added: ‘He was given leave to remain, as almost all these people are. We dish out leave to remain like Smarties to people about whom we know nothing, and some of whom cause great harm in our country. Frankly, these people shouldn’t be here.’
Tommy Robinson and X owner Elon Musk urged people to take to the streets of Britain and demonstrate.
PSNI assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson warned that disorder ‘damages communities, damages local businesses and brings young people into the criminal justice system when they shouldn’t be’.
