Northern Ireland was hit by a wave of violence targeting migrants and people from ethnic minority backgrounds on Tuesday night, following a knife attack in Belfast believed to have been carried out by a Sudanese man.
On Wednesday afternoon, 30-year-old Hadi Alodid appeared in court and was charged with attempted murder, possession of a knife, and making threats to kill an NHS worker, while the victim remains in hospital after reportedly losing his left eye in the attack.
Hundreds of masked rioters set fire to homes and cars the previous day, forcing families to flee. On Wednesday morning, Belfast awoke to burnt-out-houses, lingering smoke, and rows of destroyed vehicles lining the streets.
Local politicians and a pastor said many people were targeted simply for being Black.
In a statement sent to The New Arab, Dr Umar Al-Qadri, the Chairman of the Irish Muslim Council said, “The scenes witnessed in Belfast are deeply concerning and distressing for all who value peace, public safety, and social cohesion.”
Claire Hanna, leader of Northern Ireland’s Social Democratic and Labour Party described the violence as a “race based pogrom”, blaming the far-right for stirring up violence on social media.
“The online ecosystem that talked this up will move on now and the people of Belfast will be left picking up the pieces,” she told Reuters.
The owner of the X social media platform, Elon Musk, had earlier shared a post by far-right activist Tommy Robinson characterising the incident as “yet another invader attack on our people”.
Musk, who previously said that civil war in the United Kingdom was “inevitable”, added: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”
Inciting racism
The unrest has been widely condemned as racially motivated, with senior politicians and community leaders warning that far-right agitators are exploiting the knife attack to incite hatred against migrants and minorities.
Northern Irish Justice Minister Naomi Long said that “bad faith actors” were seeking to use the attack to target those who were from the same religious or racial background as the attacker.
“If you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the colour of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,” she told the BBC.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill echoed those concerns, saying “There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks. Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice.”
Muslim community leaders also warned against the collective punishment of migrants in the wake of the stabbing.
“First and foremost, our thoughts remain with the victim of the horrific knife attack and their family. We trust that the authorities will conduct a full investigation and ensure that justice is served,” Qadri said.
“At the same time, it is essential that the actions of one individual are not used to stigmatise entire communities. Collective blame is both unjust and counterproductive. The overwhelming majority of Muslims, migrants, and ethnic minorities are law-abiding citizens who contribute positively to society and who themselves reject violence in all its forms,” he told The New Arab.
In Britain, independent MP and former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said in a statement, “the far-right violence in Belfast is utterly sickening”.
“Houses set on fire. Migrants and minority ethnic people chased out of their homes. Shouts of ‘foreigners out’. Yet again, they are weaponising an appalling attack to whip up hatred against entire communities,” Corbyn said, adding that the violence had been encouraged by the anti-migrant climate in the UK and previous statements by politicians such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
“When politicians demonise migrants, hatred spreads. When politicians call for ‘pure, cold rage,’ people listen. Their racist bile will not build a single hospital, help a single homeless person or lift a single child out of poverty.”
