A second night of chaos erupted in Belfast with violent clashes between mobs of protesters and police – hours after a ‘hit list’ of ‘migrant homes’ circulated on social media.
Police sprayed aggressors with water cannons and rubber bullets in Glengormley, north Belfast, while coming under attack from hundreds of missiles and flaming hazards.
Protestors later torched a building and several vehicles in the same area, which was the main flashpoint of the evening.
Trouble first flared when a crowd tried to march on the Chimney Corner Hotel, which houses asylum seekers, but met formations of police vehicles blocking off the Antrim Road.
Rioters, many hooded and masking their faces, began charging the police lines – forcing officers to shield behind their armoured Land Rovers.
The rabble aimed traffic cones, wheelie bins, bricks, bottles and fireworks at police, using sledgehammers to arm themselves with debris from buildings and fences.
Officers responded with water cannons, deployed for the first time since rioting erupted over the violent stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie in north Belfast on Monday night.
A Department for Infrastructure vehicle was set alight, and fires were also set in the road.
Fires burn in the road surrounding the PSNI’s armoured Land Rovers on the Antrim Road
A bonfire burns in a road in Glengormley after protesters bins alight
A group of protesters watch an overturned car blazing in the middle of a road in the area
Police fired water cannons and rubber bullets later in the night when mobs set fire to a van and a bungalow
One protester complained: ‘There wouldn’t be any of this going on if they’d just let us reach the hotel. They’ve caused the trouble tonight by being too heavy-handed.’
After a temporary lapse, chaos reignited around 11pm when rioters torched a nearby bungalow and pushed a flaming van towards the police line.
It was then that officers fired rubber bullets at the agitators, though it is unclear whether anyone was hit.
The bungalow backs onto a Maxol petrol station on the Antrim Road, where the larger group was gathered earlier.
A local tonight told the Daily Mail: ‘The bungalow was empty, there’s nobody living in it, but it was an easy target for the rioters.
‘It backs on to the petrol station as well so that’s why the police dispersed the crowds with rubber bullets.
‘There’s fears the roof of the bungalow was lined with asbestos. The fire crews have told everyone to get back inside.’
Earlier in the day, a sinister hit list of addresses, purportedly houses where migrants live, was being circulated on X, countered by calls for locals to protect their occupants.
Police warned that it could be a criminal offence to share the list, which includes more than 100 addresses across Northern Ireland, mostly in Belfast.
Rows of the PSNI’s armoured Land Rovers took formation to block protesters marching on an asylum hotel
Police fired water cannons on protesters on the Antrim Road
A water tanker was set on fire near the Sandyknowes roundabout, where hundreds of protesters gathered on Wednesday night
Groups of masked men gathered and stockpiled missiles to hurl at police
Hundreds of people were milling around near the Sandyknowes roundabout, with some directing bricks, bottles and fireworks at police
Fire crews swiftly put out the flames on the water tanker near the Sandyknowes roundabout
Stephen Ogilvie’s family also commented again on Wednesday night, saying they were ‘deeply distressed’ at false information being shared online, and ‘disgusted’ by the recent ugly scenes.
Kate Nicholl, South Belfast MLA, wrote on X: ‘There is a so-called hit list doing the rounds on social media.
‘I have spoken to PSNI who will be actively patrolling areas and have spoken to several people in these addresses.
‘People of all ethnicities feeling unsettled right now, check in on your neighbours & keep safe.’
Trouble also reared its head in Londonderry, 60 miles north west of Belfast, as groups of youths torched wheelie bins and a salt box earlier in the evening.
Police maintained a presence near the loyalist Tullyally estate and advised the public to avoid the area – as DUP assembly member Julia Middleton called for calm.
Officers have vowed there will be more arrests in the days to come, after two men appeared in court on Wednesday charged with the first night’s rioting.
A third man was arrested for allegedly throwing a petrol bomb that injured two police officers.
An eerie silence fell over Belfast city centre this evening, with the streets much emptier than usual
Shops closed down early and battened down the hatches in anticipation of more unrest
The charred shell of the Glider bus set on fire on Tuesday night was removed with a crane
An eerie stillness had fallen over Belfast earlier on Wednesday as police braced for a repeat of the previous night, when houses, cars, a bus and a supermarket were torched by the anti-immigrant protesters.
Shops had closed early and battened down the hatches, with some boarded up in a bid to shield themselves from rioting.
Trains and buses were cancelled, and some schools remained closed, leaving the streets unusually quiet.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) flew in 200 officers to help quell any further unrest.
Groups first lashed out on Tuesday night after a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged with attempted murder over Monday’s attack.
Hadi Alodid, 30, appeared in court on Wednesday charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie, in his 40s, who lost his left eye and suffered deep lacerations in the attack.
Keir Starmer vowed to ‘crack down’ on anyone ‘fuelling division’, and Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill condemned the ‘outright thuggery’ – but these warnings went unheeded by some.
There appeared to have been a deliberate campaign against non-white residents on Tuesday night, with several families left homeless after their houses were set alight. It is not yet clear whether people were targeted in the same way last night.
An African family who have lived in Belfast for 20 years was among those targeted on Tuesday, and a Ukrainian teenager was forced to flee after her family’s front door caught fire.
On Tuesday night, Lendrick Road in east Belfast was engulfed in flames after fires leapt from cars to houses
Residents had to be evacuated on Tuesday night after houses were set ablaze
A two-month-old baby had to be rescued from the rioters, and footage showed one family being ushered past flames into an armoured police vehicle.
A Middle Eastern supermarket was specifically targeted in Belfast, while a Turkish barbershop was trashed in County Antrim, around 20 miles outside the city.
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.
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.’
So far, two men have been charged over the violence in Belfast, which has been condemned across the political spectrum.
Dwayne Thomas Andrew Burton, 42, from Clara Street in east Belfast, was charged with rioting and attempting to damage a police Land Rover in the Newtownards Road area in east Belfast.
He also faces a count of assaulting a civilian detention officer while in police custody.
Sudanese asylum seeker Hadi Alodid, 30, appeared in court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder over the knife attack on Monday night
Serious knife wounds were inflicted to the face, neck and back of Stephen Ogilvie (pictured)
Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard that Burton is alleged to have thrown a shopping trolley at the Land Rover and was also observed allegedly inciting the crowd of protesters.
He is then accused of jumping on top of the vehicle, punching it and attempting to open the passenger door.
District judge Steve Keown refused bail and remanded Burton in custody to appear before the same court on July 8.
Andrew Kane, 39, of Carwood Avenue in Newtownabbey, appeared separately before Belfast Magistrates’ Court facing a single riot charge after being arrested in his local area.
Kane was also remanded in custody to appear again before the court on June 16.
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.’
In Westminster, security minister Dan Jarvis said: ‘Reports that ethnic minorities were targeted are sickening.’
The Prime Minister said the rioting in Belfast was ‘shocking and completely unacceptable’.
‘It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it,’ he said.
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‘Those responsible will feel the full force of the law.’
Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said 200 more officers would be on the streets on Wednesday night.
‘We will deal with this,’ he said.
‘We will be on the streets tonight in numbers even more than we were last night, and we have got arrangements in hand to get mutual aid that will be arriving here tomorrow.’
Mr Jarvis told MPs there had been three arrests ‘but more will surely follow’.
Mr Ogilvie’s family said in a statement they were ‘devastated by the horrific attack’ but pleaded for calm.
‘We are aware of the tensions and talk of protests following this incident,’ the statement said.
‘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.
‘We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.’
Mr Ogilvie’s family said they were ‘completely devastated’ by the attack and said the unrest was ‘not welcome’.
Alodid appeared before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning charged with the attempted murder of Mr Ogilvie, with threats to kill an NHS radiographer and with possession of a knife.
The court heard Mr Ogilvie lost his left eye and suffered deep cuts to his head, face and back.
Alodid, who appeared in court via video link, made no reply to the charges when they were put to him through an Arabic interpreter.
The court heard Alodid said ‘I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead’ while in hospital receiving treatment for a hand injury and told medical staff ‘I will kill you’.
District Judge Stephen Keown refused bail after hearing police concerns there could be ‘significant public disorder’ if he was released due to ‘strong public feeling’ about the incident.
The judge warned that anyone who plans to take part in further disorder in Northern Ireland should ‘be prepared to go to prison’.
