Around 3,000 people gathered in Belfast on Saturday for an anti-racism rally after days of disorder triggered by a knife attack earlier this week. The protest came as the government’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, Jonathan Hall KC, said it was “absolutely legitimate” to discuss the impact of migration on national security in the wake of the violence.
Hall told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that although the knife attack itself did not appear to be a national security incident, “it has had huge ramifications… not least for people who happen to be black and brown who appear to have been driven out their houses, so it’s extraordinarily destabilising”.
“Thousands rally against racism in Belfast after knife attack; terror adviser says migration debate 'legitimate' for national security.”
A Sudanese man, 30, who entered the UK in 2023 and was given refugee status, has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the attack. Disorder spread across Belfast on Tuesday, prompting the large counter-protest on Saturday.
Hall argued that it is legitimate to talk about immigration in the context of national security, pointing to state threats and people willing to act as proxies for Iran. “I’m interested in the question of whether or not foreign nationality, particularly recent migrants, is becoming more relevant to the overall national security picture,” he said.
He also noted that no European leaders had publicly responded to Donald Trump’s National Security Strategy, released in November, which accused Europe’s migration policies of “transforming the continent and creating strife”. Trump warned many European countries “will not be viable countries any longer” if they continue their current approach, calling immigration “a disaster”.
Hall said: “Now you may not have agreed with the language, but I think it does raise the question if certain countries are more likely either to commit very serious offences, or particular offences, or to get involved with state threat activity.” He asked whether migration should be considered not only in terms of the economy and housing but also national security.
Drawing a comparison to security services’ assessments of UK nationals who left to join Islamic State in Syria, Hall noted that many had witnessed or perpetrated serious violence. “I think it is a relevant factor, yes,” he said. “Ultimately national security is the health of the nation.”
The disorder and the rally have put a spotlight on community tensions, with the anti-racism demonstrators calling for unity. The government’s cohesion strategy, published in April, stated that social cohesion was “a vital front in the resilience of our national security”, according to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.