Homes and vehicles set alight in Northern Ireland as knife attack sparks wave of anti-immigrant violence

By Issy Ronald, Hira Humayun, Kathleen Magramo, CNN

London (CNN) — Masked rioters torched homes and vehicles in a wave of anti-immigrant violence in Northern Ireland on Tuesday night after a Sudanese man was charged with attempted murder following a knife attack that Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned as “horrific.”

Crowds gathered in various parts of Belfast, setting houses, a bus, cars and barricades on fire and forcing several families to flee their homes. Politicians said the rioters had targeted the homes of ethnic minorities.

A local pastor, Jack McKee, told the BBC some members of his church “who have been with us for 20 years” were “getting put out of their home, had their house attacked, windows smashed, houses beside them burned.” “They’re getting put out just because they’re Black,” he said.

The prospect of further violence still hangs over Belfast, with some schools in the city closing early on Wednesday and public transport set to halt services in the early evening. Northern Ireland’s police force said an extra 200 officers would be on the streets.

The overnight violence, which injured two police officers, has caused huge anxiety for some in the community. Naomi, a Muslim woman who lives near North Belfast, told CNN she was worried about her children going to school and had to pick up her son early after racist taunts from his classmates.

“My daughter’s the only girl in hijab in her year … I was worried about dropping them off, but I thought we need to have some normality this morning. We have to send them to school, and I wish I hadn’t,” she said.

Social media video verified by CNN showed homes in Belfast engulfed in flames with firefighters nearby. Cars were also set alight in two neighboring towns.

Smaller protests were also reported in cities in England, Wales and Scotland.

Knife attack victim’s family calls for calm

The protests flared after police said Tuesday they had charged a 30-year-old Sudanese man with attempted murder over a knife attack the previous evening that was filmed by a bystander and went viral.

In the footage, a man can be seen pinning a visibly bloodied man to the ground and attacking him multiple times before bystanders and police officers managed to subdue him. Victim Stephen Ogilvie lost his left eye in the attack, a detective told the court on Wednesday, according to PA Media, and he suffered wounds to his eyes, back and face.

The knife attack victim’s family called for the violence to stop, saying in a statement: “We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.”

Suspect Hadi Alodid appeared in court Wednesday charged with attempted murder, threats to kill an NHS radiographer and possession of a knife, PA Media news agency reported. He was refused bail by the judge.

Anti-immigrant and right-wing accounts on social media, particularly X, seized on the video, with many calling for further protests.

Billionaire Elon Musk was among US right-wing figures calling for demonstrations. “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!” he wrote while reposting a call for nationwide rallies from Tommy Robinson, a controversial agitator who spreads anti-Muslim bigotry and has several criminal convictions.

Local and national leaders called for calm and said rioters and racist agitators would be prosecuted. So far, three people have been arrested following the disorder, though police said that number would likely rise. One person has been charged with rioting, and another with rioting, attempted criminal damage and assault.

“It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it. Those responsible will feel the full force of the law,” said Prime Minister Starmer.

Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long said those stoking tensions online were “weaponizing other people’s pain and distress” to advance their anti-immigration narratives.

“I don’t believe many of those, Elon Musk included who has been posting about this and agitating around this, has the slightest interest in the community and Northern Ireland,” she told CNN’s Becky Anderson on Wednesday. “The young people who were on streets yesterday, Elon Musk has done nothing for them other than allow their mouths to become radicalised by the wild west he has created on X,” she added.

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill said groups of masked men were “burning families out of their homes” in scenes of “outright thuggery.”

“Racism, intimidation and violence are wrong wherever they occur,” she added.

Smaller protests also formed in other British cities on Tuesday night including Bangor, Glasgow and London, where a group of far-right protesters confronted police and sang anti-immigration chants.

Two police officers and three members of the public were injured in Glasgow, police said, adding that “members of the public were attacked because of the color of their skin.”

Alodid, the suspect in the knife attack, flew from Paris to Dublin and entered Northern Ireland in February 2023. He claimed asylum upon arrival and was permitted to stay in the UK until 2028, the police said. He had a legal right to reside in Northern Ireland, police said.

The investigation is ongoing but there is currently no evidence that the knife attack was linked to terrorism, the police added.

UK media watchdog Ofcom said it had warned online service providers that their platforms increasingly risked “being used to stir up hatred, provoke violence and commit other offences under UK law.”

Concerns have also been raised about messages encouraging disorder circulating on WhatsApp. One such message urged men age 18 and over to “be prepared to fight or be arrested,” according to reports in some British media.

Ogilvie remains in hospital, and his family said their “only priority is being at his bedside and helping him recover.”

“We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward,” they said. “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.”

Race tensions in Britain

The knife attack comes at a time of heightened racial tensions in Britain, particularly centered on anti-immigration rhetoric that is being amplified by far-right figures and social media, both inside the UK and overseas.

Last week, the release of bodycam footage of the death of White student Henry Nowak –– who was handcuffed by police in December after he had been fatally stabbed by a Sikh man in the English city of Southhampton –– provoked a national outcry, with officers under fire for their conduct and far-right leaders accused of using the murder to stoke racist violence for political gain.

Key Trump administration officials, including Vice President JD Vance, seized on the attacker’s murder conviction to blame the UK’s migration policies, sparking tensions with Britain’s government. The man convicted of the killing, Vickrum Digwa, 23, was born in Britain.

Northern Ireland has also experienced recent racial tensions.

A year ago, several nights of racially motivated violent disorder broke out in the town of Ballymena in Northern Ireland after two Romanian teenage boys were accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. All charges against the pair were eventually dropped.

CNN’s Niamh Kennedy, Caitlin Danaher, Mustafa Qadri, Avery Schmitz and Thomas Bordeaux contributed to this report.

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