Inflamed by social media, anti-immigrant violence scorches Belfast

Masked men burned families out of their homes in Belfast and torched a number of vehicles in a wave of anti-immigrant violence on Tuesday night that followed a knife attack for which a Sudanese man appeared in court charged with attempted murder.

Hundreds of protesters, many with their faces covered, attacked police and burned vehicles in a number of locations across Northern Ireland after a video of the attack, in which the victim lost an eye, went viral.

Political leaders said the violence was aimed at ethnic minorities.

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

The suspect in the attack in north Belfast, a 30-year-old Sudanese national named as Hadi Alodid, appeared in court on Wednesday where he was remanded in custody. The victim, in his forties, suffered significant injuries to his face and back, the court heard.

Videos of the attack circulated online all day on Tuesday, sparking calls for violent protest on social media.

Police had to help one family escape from a burning house. Several cars and a bus were set on fire and reduced to shells. Local politicians and a pastor said many of those who were targeted were Black.

"There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks," Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill said. "Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice."

Elon Musk calls for protests 

The attack, which is currently not being treated as terrorism, comes at a time of heightened tensions in Britain following the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh man, falsely alleged a racist attack.

It also follows repeated protests about immigration, with populist parties saying Britain's asylum policy had allowed dangerous men into the country.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk reposted many messages denouncing the state of the United Kingdom. After anti-immigrant activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who calls himself Tommy Robinson, called for protests against "yet another invader attack on our people", Musk replied: "Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!"

Northern Ireland's Justice Minister Naomi Long said that "bad faith actors" who would have previously struggled to find the province on a map had sought to weaponize the understandable fear and anger sparked by the knife attack to target those who had the same skin color.

"Do not allow your genuine concerns to be manipulated by bad faith actors," she said. "We know in Northern Ireland the damage that can do when you demonise a whole group of people because of the behavior of a few, and we do not want to go back there."

Masked men burned families out of their homes in the city while hundreds of protesters, many with their faces covered, attacked police and burned vehicles in a number of locations.

Ukrainian Belfast resident Yara Navrotska had to flee through her back door after her neighbor's house was set on fire. Navrotska, who has lived in Belfast for more than two years, described the scene as "terrifying."

Smaller protests also in London and Scotland

Claire Hanna, the leader of the opposition Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland, described the violence as a "race-based pogrom". "The online ecosystem that talked this up will move on now and the people of Belfast will be left picking up the pieces," she said.

Smaller protests were reported elsewhere across Britain on Tuesday evening, including in London, where demonstrators briefly blocked Parliament Square, and in Scotland's two largest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

The disorder in Northern Ireland is the latest violence to flare in the UK in response to a crime, often believed to involve a migrant, which has led to calls from some prominent anti-Islam and anti-immigrant activists for people to "take to the streets".

Belfast pastor Jack McKee told the BBC that some members of his church, who had lived there for 20 years, were "getting put out just because they're Black".

Immigration has historically been low in Northern Ireland due to the three-decade conflict waged between mainly Catholic Irish nationalists seeking Irish unity and predominantly Protestant pro-British "loyalists" wanting to stay in the United Kingdom.

Migration has been increasing in recent years however, and there has been a hardening sentiment against it in both Northern Ireland and parts of the Republic of Ireland. According to the 2021 census, 96.6% of those living in Northern Ireland were white.

Northern Ireland was also hit by anti-immigrant rioting last year amid anger over an alleged sexual assault. Charges against two boys were later withdrawn by prosecutors.