Claire Hanna, the leader of the opposition Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland, described the violence as a “race based pogrom”. “The online ecosystem that talked this up will move on now and the people of Belfast will be left picking up the pieces,” she said.
Smaller protests also took place outside parliament in London while other gatherings were reported across Britain.
Vehicles burned across the city
In Northern Ireland, masked youths gathered early on Tuesday evening at points across Belfast, with police responding by deploying armoured vehicles. Rioters set fire to a number of cars across the city, while a bus was engulfed in flames in east Belfast.
The BBC reported that a crowd of 100 men kicked in doors and broke windows of homes on a street in east Belfast.
“They’re getting put out just because they’re Black,” Pastor Jack McKee told the BBC after attacks on homes in the north of the city.
What sparked the violence?
The knife attack that spurred the unrest took place in north Belfast late on Monday.
A 30-year-old Sudanese national has been charged with attempted murder, possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place and threats to kill.
The victim of the attack, a man in his 40s, suffered serious injuries including slash wounds to his face and back.
The suspect in the stabbing is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday.
“There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks,” Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill said. “Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice.”
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had described the initial knife attack as “sickening”.
The assault, which is currently not being treated as terrorism, comes at a time of heightened tensions in Britain following the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh man, falsely alleged a racist attack.
It also follows repeated protests about immigration, with populist parties saying Britain’s asylum policy had allowed dangerous men into the country.
Northern Ireland was also hit by anti-immigrant rioting last year amid anger over an alleged sexual assault. Charges against two boys were later withdrawn by the prosecution service.
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