Northern Ireland unrest leaves 12 officers injured after Belfast stabbing

BELFAST: Police made 16 arrests during a second night of unrest in Northern Ireland, while 12 police officers were injured, as disorder linked to a stabbing case continued in and around Belfast, UK government minister Hilary Benn said on Thursday.

The latest clashes came hours after a Sudanese man appeared in court charged with attempted murder over a knife attack on Monday night. Video of the assault, showing a man on top of another person lying in the street and attacking him with a knife, spread widely on social media and prompted anger and condemnation that later spilled onto the streets.

The victim, Stephen Ogilvie, was in improving condition on Thursday, according to Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson, who said he had met the victim’s family. Ogilvie’s relatives also appealed for calm after what they described as a terrible tragedy and said the violence was not welcome.

Journalists saw dozens of masked people confront riot police late on Wednesday, with a car and a boarded-up property set alight. Petrol bombs, bricks and other projectiles were thrown as police used water cannon to keep back rioters attempting to reach a hotel northwest of Belfast that had been used to accommodate asylum seekers.

Benn said the disorder on Wednesday was smaller in scale than the violence seen the previous night, when masked rioters set vehicles and buildings on fire and forced families to leave their homes in Belfast. He condemned what he called racist thuggery and said the unrest had created fear, particularly among people targeted because of their skin colour.

"Above all for those who were intimidated, burned out of their houses by masked thugs on the basis of the colour of their skin," Benn said in remarks reported from the scene.

A nurse travelling to work at Ulster Hospital near Belfast was chased and intimidated on Wednesday, according to the body that runs the hospital. Mohammed Arshed, chairman of Northern Ireland’s biggest and main mosque, said the mosque had to close on Tuesday for the first time in its history.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said two more people had been charged over the unrest and were due to appear in court later on Thursday, after several others were charged on Wednesday. Most of the disturbances have taken place in Protestant, pro-UK unionist parts of Belfast, while Catholic, pro-Irish unity areas have largely remained quiet.

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said there was no evidence that loyalist paramilitaries had coordinated the disorder. Authorities instead blamed far-right activists for fuelling anger on social media.

Sudanese national Hadi Alodid, 30, was remanded in custody by Belfast magistrates on Wednesday after being charged with attempted murder. The case was adjourned until July 8.

Footage of the stabbing was posted on X by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, and was later amplified by X owner Elon Musk.

Tensions had already been elevated elsewhere in the UK. Violent confrontations broke out in southern England last week over the police handling of the killing of a white student by a British Sikh man.

Some protesters linked their presence at the demonstrations to broader anti-immigration concerns. A man identified only as Brendan, a 50-year-old plumber, said that "nobody agrees with the violence" and added that “There’s nothing going to unite people more than crimes of inhumane acts like butchering people.”

Another protester, John, who did not give his surname, said: “There’s now a united Ireland… united because the ordinary people have realised that, actually, we have been played like puppets.”

He also said the protesters were "genuinely concerned… we have an influx across Europe of migrants."

Immigration remains a politically contentious issue in both the UK and Ireland and has contributed to the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage. Both countries have seen repeated anti-immigration demonstrations in recent years, with some turning violent.