Belfast anti-immigrant riots force families from homes

Anti-immigrant violence has hit parts of Belfast after a knife attack, with homes, vehicles and ethnic minority-owned businesses targeted, Al Jazeera reported. The unrest has forced families to leave their homes and prompted warnings from rights groups about organized racist attacks in Northern Ireland.

A 30-year-old Sudanese national accused in the stabbing has been charged with attempted murder, according to Al Jazeera. The victim, 44-year-old Stephen Ogilvie, remained in hospital with serious injuries to his face and back and had reportedly lost an eye.

Zeinab, a Sudanese mother of three who asked Al Jazeera not to publish her surname, said she was frightened when violence broke out near her home in east Belfast. She condemned the knife attack and said the suspect’s nationality did not reflect Sudanese people, whom she described as generous and kind.

As rioters attacked homes and businesses they believed belonged to ethnic minorities, Zeinab turned to the Anaka Women’s Collective for help, Al Jazeera reported. She and her family were taken in by an Irish family outside Belfast.

Al Jazeera reported that threats spread online before shops closed early across the city on Tuesday evening. An AI-generated list, shared by figures including Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk, warned businesses to shut by 5:30pm and named streets in Belfast; a second list named about 70 locations elsewhere in the United Kingdom.

Robinson, described by Al Jazeera as a far-right agitator, wrote that people across the UK would take to the streets after what he called another “invader attack”. Hundreds responded, Al Jazeera reported.

Within about an hour, a bus and other vehicles had been set on fire in east Belfast, sending smoke across the area, according to Al Jazeera. The outlet reported that some of those involved were understood to be as young as 10, and that anti-Islam graffiti was sprayed on a halal butcher shop.

Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland director, told Al Jazeera that anti-Islam sentiment appeared to be more visible in the latest unrest than in earlier outbreaks. He also said Northern Ireland had seen organized racist violence for a third summer in a row, with each episode more serious than the previous one.

Ethnic minority communities make up 3.4 percent of Northern Ireland’s population, just over 65,000 people, according to the 2022 census cited by Al Jazeera. The report said 2,379 people are seeking asylum in a region of 1.9 million.

Geraldine Hanna, Northern Ireland’s victims of crime commissioner, told Al Jazeera that anonymous online actors had shown they could shut down daily life in Belfast through fear. She said schools, public transport and businesses closed after social media threats, and argued the attacks should be treated as “domestic terrorism”.

Police officers also came under attack, with bricks and masonry thrown at riot officers in north Belfast, Al Jazeera reported. In other areas, groups dressed in black and masked men set up informal checkpoints, asking drivers whether any passengers were foreigners.

The Participation and Practice of Rights charity said about 200 families had been evacuated. Northern Ireland’s Housing Executive said it had helped 29 households since the unrest began and was still assessing damage to homes.

Al Jazeera reported that a Facebook “hit list” of properties believed to be Houses in Multiple Occupation had circulated, using addresses apparently taken from public HMO records. Ethnic minority support groups believed the aim was to intimidate vulnerable people.

Political leaders responded unevenly, according to Al Jazeera. Sinn Fein figures John Finucane and Michelle O’Neill were viewed as helping calm tensions, while Democratic Unionist Party politicians defended protests over what they called “legitimate immigration concerns” and DUP leader Gavin Robinson called for the border with Ireland to be closed.

This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.