Rioters hurled petrol bombs and pavement stones at police in Belfast for a second night on Wednesday, as 12 officers were injured and 16 people arrested in the worst outbreak of anti-migrant violence in Northern Ireland in years.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland deployed water cannons to disperse a 200-strong mob near a motorway roundabout on the city’s northern outskirts, where the crowd was trying to reach a hotel housing asylum seekers. Masked youths had earlier broken up sections of pavements and walls of private homes to make bricks to throw at police, while commercial bins were set on fire and pushed into a Glider bus on the Newtownards Road.
“12 police injured and 16 arrested in second night of anti-migrant riots in Belfast, triggered by a knife attack.”
The violence was triggered by a knife attack on Monday evening, when Sudanese immigrant Hadi Alodid, 30, allegedly stabbed a local man repeatedly in the face, neck and back in the middle of a north Belfast street. The attack was captured on shaky smartphone footage and spread globally on social media. Alodid appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder, threats to kill an NHS radiographer and possession of a knife.
The family of the victim, Stephen Ogilvie – who lost an eye in the attack – condemned the second night of violence and said they were “disgusted” by the response. Northern Ireland’s infrastructure minister described the destruction as “racism, intimidation and thuggery”. Justice Minister Naomi Long said: “Belfast residents targeted because of the colour of their skin.”
At least 27 immigrant families have been intimidated from their arson-hit homes since Monday, according to UK government officials. The violence sparked political focus on how Alodid came to be in Belfast: he arrived in 2023 after flying into Paris, then Dublin, and travelling north by bus across the Republic of Ireland’s barrier-free border – an arrangement dating to 1922 that allows Irish and British citizens freedom of movement.
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn faced recurrent questions in a media round on Thursday about why Alodid was in Belfast. Benn said UK and Irish authorities have already increased cooperation in monitoring cross-border movements, including spot checks on buses, trains and flights from EU countries. In Dublin, Taoiseach Micheál Martin cautioned that fears over the knife attack should not spur Britain or Ireland to restrict freedom of movement for their own citizens.
Chief Constable Jon Boutcher appealed for calm on Wednesday, warning “anyone considering becoming involved in violence and disorder to think”. Public transport resumed on Thursday morning, with Translink confirming all bus and train services operating as expected, and the Antrim Road – closed after bricks and bottles were thrown at police – reopened.
But as Belfast returned to an uneasy calm, the questions over the open Irish border and the roots of the violence showed no sign of abating.