New evidence has emerged that black ethnic minority residents have become targets of masked protesters in Belfast. This afternoon, masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside.
As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed to the front door and broke it down. With smoke from fireworks filling the air, others attacked the downstairs windows with bricks.
ITV News also showed footage of two Ugandan student nurses who described how they managed to escape during the violent protests. The women said they were frightened and no longer felt sure they were safe in Belfast.
As the men stormed the property, some claimed they were “liberating” it. Graffiti nearby demanded “local homes for local people”. Nearby, a car was set on fire. As the chaos unfolded, a man in a skull face mask told people to put their phones away. Helicopters circled overhead, while two police officers looked on from their car as smoke billowed into the sky. They appeared to conclude that it was not safe to intervene.
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By the time police reinforcements arrived in four vans, most of the crowd, which had numbered in the hundreds, had already left the area. Only a small number of people remained at the scene.
The violence followed the charging of a Sudanese asylum seeker with attempted murder in connection with a knife attack that was filmed and widely shared on social media on Tuesday. The graphic footage was later posted by Tommy Robinson and other far-right figures, leading to calls for protests.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, shared details of protest locations online. X owner Elon Musk also shared one of Robinson’s posts, as well as another from the far-right Restore Britain party which read: “Do not make peace with evil. Destroy it.”
The hostility towards filming on Shankill Road stood in contrast to the unrest seen in Southport in 2024, where many people openly recorded events as they happened. In Belfast, one teenager was dragged from the crowd after apparently using his phone.
“You’re hurting me,” he shouted. “I can’t breathe.”
Protests were also reported in other parts of the UK, including Southampton, where riots broke out last week after the sentencing of a man for the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak.
On Tuesday night, dozens of police officers were deployed to stop protesters as they attempted to move along Portswood Road. After being blocked, the group began chanting: “I can’t breathe.” Those were the words Nowak, a Southampton student, repeatedly said as he lay dying in handcuffs after being stabbed.
In a unionist area of east Belfast, masked men set bins on fire and pushed them towards a bus on the Newtownards Road. Bus services were later suspended until further notice. Some of those involved wore balaclavas and waved flares, while the BBC reported hearing several explosions within minutes.
Elsewhere, protesters blocked cars from joining the M2 motorway. Further protests were reported in Antrim, Bangor and Ballymena. In Newtownabbey, two cars were set alight.
In Lisburn, Northern Ireland’s Education Minister Paul Givan appealed for calm and urged people not to take part in violence or disorder.
“There is a genuine shock about what happened last night,” he said. “I think it has sent shockwaves across the community.”
