Police used water cannons late Wednesday to disperse small crowds that had gathered for a second night in Northern Ireland, while UK authorities blamed far-right activists for fueling anger on social media after a brutal stabbing in Belfast.
Police increased their presence on the city’s streets, but while the main flashpoints of 24 hours earlier appeared calm, dozens of men confronted police in one area, throwing rockets such as rocks and bottles and setting fires in the middle of the road.
A line of police vans, backed by police in riot gear, were trying to push the crowd through a roundabout in north Belfast, AFP images showed.
“Crowds have gathered and rockets are being thrown at officers who have now deployed water cannon in an effort to maintain public order,” police said in a statement, urging motorists to avoid the area.
Belfast city center was largely deserted by late afternoon, with restaurants and businesses closed, schools closed and public transport closed amid fears of a repeat of Tuesday night’s riots.
Earlier, a Sudanese man appeared in court accused of the stabbing that sparked overnight riots that also spread to the Scottish city of Glasgow.
In Belfast on Tuesday, masked protesters torched vehicles and buildings and forced families from their homes.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the scenes as “shocking and completely unacceptable”.
The family of Stephen Ogilvie, the victim of Monday night’s horrific stabbing, appealed for calm and warned against using the “horrible tragedy” to “divide people or incite enmity”.
Tensions were already high across the UK. Last week there were clashes in southern England over the police’s handling of the killing of a white student by a British Sikh man.
Anselme Shima, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who has been living in Northern Ireland since 2013, called the situation “terrible”.
Another local resident, 28, who asked not to be named, said she had helped evacuate her neighbors. “It’s just sad, this is a really close-knit community,” she told AFP.
Court appearance
At Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning, Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old refugee from Sudan, appeared briefly to face attempted murder and other charges following Monday’s stabbing.
He was remanded in custody and the case was adjourned to July 8. The court heard that Ogilvie had lost an eye in the attack. He remains in the hospital “with serious injuries”, according to the police.
Footage of the stabbing – which showed several people intervening, one wielding a baton – sparked widespread condemnation alongside outrage.
Multiple accounts linked to so-called “patriots” shared the footage, calling on people to “protest against mass immigration in their communities”.
Police in Northern Ireland said three people had been arrested over the disorder, including a 39-year-old and a 42-year-old man who had been charged.
In Glasgow, there were also three arrests after two police officers and three members of the public were injured, Police Scotland said. Worshipers at Glasgow’s largest mosque were reportedly locked inside as tensions flared.
As calls for more protests circulated on Wednesday, Northern Ireland’s police chief, Jon Boutcher, said his force was looking to add 200 more officers to the streets.
Officers had to pull a family including a two-month-old baby to safety during Tuesday’s violence, which he called “a massive act of self-harm by mindless idiots”, many of whom appeared to be young.
Twenty-seven people were left homeless “because people went door-to-door to target foreign nationals”, said UK minister Ruth Anderson.
“I can only imagine the terror.”
‘Bad faith actors’
Anna Turley, the leader of Britain’s ruling Labor Party, said online platforms were “playing a role in fueling” the unrest. She suggested that X owner Elon Musk was one of the “bad faith actors” who fueled the tensions.
Musk had retweeted a post from anti-immigration campaigner Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – also known as Tommy Robinson – adding: “Only by protesting LOUDLY and LOUDLY will there be any difference!!”
Britain’s media watchdog Ofcom said it had written to online service providers about the “increased risk of their platforms being used to incite hatred, incite violence and commit other offenses under UK law”.
And Northern Ireland police warned that anyone “who shares personal information online with the intention of endangering others may be committing an offence”.
Alodid is a Sudanese refugee with a residence permit valid until 2028, according to the UK home office.
Immigration is a hot-button issue in Britain and has helped fuel the rise of the far-right UK Reform party, led by Nigel Farage.
The country has seen frequent anti-immigration protests in recent years, some of which have turned violent.
(cz)
