Belfast police use water cannon as anti-immigrant unrest spreads
Police confronted masked crowds in Belfast after a stabbing case fueled two nights of anti-immigrant violence, the Associated Press reported.
By Sofia Marchetti · World Affairs Correspondent
3 min read
Police in Northern Ireland used water cannon Wednesday night against crowds throwing bricks, rocks and bottles during a second night of unrest in Belfast, the Associated Press reported. The violence followed a street stabbing that police and political leaders said had been seized on by anti-immigration activists.
The Associated Press reported that masked demonstrators pulled bricks from walls outside homes and broke up pavement with sledgehammers before throwing debris at riot police. In one area, people used pieces of a dismantled picket fence as cover in the street.
The disorder came hours after Hadi Alodid, 30, appeared by video in Belfast Magistrates’ Court on an attempted murder charge tied to the stabbing of Stephen Ogilvie, the AP reported. A detective told the court that Ogilvie was blinded in his left eye in the knife attack.
Alodid, described by police as a man from Sudan, was ordered held in jail, according to the AP. He also faces charges of possessing a knife and threatening to kill a radiographer while he was being treated for a hand injury after the attack.
Court hears details of stabbing case
A detective told the Belfast court that officers found Alodid on top of the injured man while armed with a kitchen knife, the AP reported. The detective said Alodid later told hospital staff, “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead,” and said, “I will kill you.”
Alodid refused legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea, according to the AP. Police said he entered Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland in 2023, applied for asylum and received a five-year permit to remain.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it had no information indicating the stabbing was connected to terrorism, the AP reported. Video of the attack spread quickly on social media, and anti-immigration activists used it to encourage protests online, according to the AP.
Homes burned and families rescued
Police were bracing for more trouble after masked men set fire Tuesday to several homes they believed housed immigrants, burned trash bins, torched a bus and threw objects at officers, the AP reported. Firefighters rescued several people from burning homes, and more than two dozen people were left homeless.
Anselme Shima, a Belfast resident originally from Congo, told the AP he saw smoke from vehicles burning near his home and was frightened by the violence. “I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbors, but last night was a horrific one,” he said.
Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher told the BBC that families, including one with a baby, were taken to police stations for safety. He said 200 additional officers would be deployed Wednesday and that the force was seeking help from other police services, according to the AP.
Ogilvie’s family urged an end to the unrest, saying migrants “make a deeply valuable contribution to our country,” the AP reported. “We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility,” the family said in a statement.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the stabbing as “sickening” and said violence targeting people because of their background would not be tolerated, according to the AP. Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill called the disorder “thuggery,” while Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said anger at one person’s alleged actions should not be directed at others who were not involved.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.