Belfast burns after knife attack protests
Follows the attempted beheading by a Sudanese man of a local resident
Homes were set on fire on Tuesday night after masked protesters ignored calls for calm and disorder broke out across Belfast.
Videos posted online showed widespread disorder on the city’s streets after a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged with attempted murder over Monday’s knife attack.
Stephen Ogilvie, who is in his 40s, suffered “significant injuries” to his face, neck and back and remains in a serious condition in hospital.
Footage shared on social media – which is too graphic to publish – appeared to show the attacker pinning the man to the ground before repeatedly stabbing him in the head.
The Telegraph has geolocated three house fires in the north west of the city on Oakley Street, Legann Street and the Crumlin Road respectively.
Footage on Sky News showed infants being carried out of neighbouring homes as flames crackled inside the houses, while a pastor told the BBC people were being forced out of their homes “because they’re black”.
Protesters also attempted to set the Sham Supermarket, a Middle Eastern shop, alight on Donegal Road, just south of the city centre.
Several vehicles, including a police vehicle and a Glider bus on the Newtownards Road, were set on fire in the east of the city earlier in the evening.
The violence was widely condemned across the political spectrum.
Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s Sinn Fein First Minister, said the burning of homes amounted to “outright thuggery” while Arlene Foster, her DUP predecessor, said she watched the unfolding scenes “with great sadness”.
Hillary Benn, the Northern Ireland Secretary, said there is “no justification at all for this type of destruction and thuggery”.
The 30-year-old suspect is also charged with possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place and threats to kill. He is expected to appear at Belfast magistrates’ court on Wednesday.
Earlier in the day, police revealed the suspect’s asylum status and movements from Sudan to Northern Ireland.
Jon Boutcher, the chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said the suspect was believed to have travelled from Sudan to Paris, and then to Dublin, before taking a bus to Belfast in February 2023.
There, he claimed asylum and was given leave to remain in the UK in September that year.
Ryan Henderson, the assistant chief constable of the PSNI, said: “Sporadic pockets of disorder have broken out in a number of locations across Northern Ireland this evening, including incidents in which a number of vehicles have been set on fire.
“We are urging everyone to remain calm, act responsibly, and avoid any activity that could place themselves or others at risk.
“Officers are on the ground, working alongside partner agencies, responding to incidents as they arise and helping to keep people safe.”
He added: “We are again appealing for calm and ask all voices of influence within local communities to encourage peaceful protest and discourage any involvement in violence or disorder.”
Naomi Long, Northern Ireland’s justice minister, said some people had ignored calls for calm.
She said: “They are intent on wreaking destruction on the very communities they claim they are trying to protect.
“They are weaponising the genuine hurt, concern and anger that people are feeling for their own misguided purposes.
“There is no place for masked thugs to take to the streets and threaten, intimidate, disrupt and cause wanton damage – it is simply disingenuous to claim this is being carried out for the good of Northern Ireland.”
[Source: Daily Telegraph]
