Violence erupts in Belfast after protests over knife attack

Violence erupts in Belfast after protests over knife attack

 

Crowds, including people in masks and hoods, burned vehicles and properties after calls for demonstrations from far-right figures

 

Rory Carroll, Hannah Al-Othman, Helena Horton and Robyn Vinter

Wed 10 Jun 2026 00.26 CEST

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jun/09/man-seriously-injured-in-belfast-stabbing-starmer-describes-as-sickening

 

Protests against immigration have erupted into violence in Northern Ireland after far-right activists called for demonstrations in response to a stabbing attack that was captured in a graphic video.

 

Crowds including masked men burned vehicles and houses and blocked roads in and around Belfast on Tuesday night, hours after Elon Musk, Tommy Robinson and other agitators exhorted people to take to the streets.

 

Protesters hijacked and burned a Glider bus on Newtownards Road in east Belfast and torched cars near Shankill Road and in Newtownabbey, from which smoke poured while sirens sounded and a police helicopter hovered above.

 

The unrest flared hours after police charged a 30-year-old asylum seeker from Sudan with attempted murder in connection with an attack in north Belfast on Monday night that left a man critically injured and prompted widespread shock and condemnation. The suspect is to appear at Belfast magistrates court on Wednesday.

 

Ryan Henderson, the assistant chief constable, appealed for calm: “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.”

 

Henderson asked for “all voices of influence” within local communities to encourage peaceful protest and to discourage violence or disorder.

 

Politicians in Northern Ireland and across the UK also appealed for calm.

 

Northern Ireland’s first minister, Michelle O’Neill, condemned the violence and warned of “dangerous attempts to exploit” the attack, saying in a social media post: “Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice. This has nothing to do with community. This is outright thuggery.”

 

Earlier, O’Neill urged the public not to be persuaded by social media accounts to start causing disorder. “For all of those people out there who are stoking up tensions in that social media space, who are happy to raise tensions, they do not represent us. We are good people and I don’t want to see anybody living in fear.”

 

John Finucane, the Sinn Féin MP for North Belfast, described the unfolding scenes as “shameful”, adding: “There is no place for it on our streets. Family homes and businesses attacked, cars and buses burned out, and parts of our community in flames.

 

“No one has the right to spread fear, terrorise innocent families or bring lawless disorder on to our streets.”

 

Northern Ireland’s Alliance justice minister, Naomi Long, said the demonstrators were “intent on wreaking destruction on the very communities they claim they are trying to protect”.

 

Those interventions came as groups of men, some in balaclavas or other face coverings, launched fireworks and started fires in bins, buses and houses. In one flare-up near Shankill Road in Belfast, a group stormed a home that appeared to be occupied by a family from an ethnic minority background, claiming to be “liberating” it.

 

Later, on the Shankill road, two phone shops had been looted, and an African shop had been set on fire, with smoke spilling into the street and fire engines stationed outside as a few stragglers braved the rain to watch the fire fighters tackle the flames.

 

There were more muted protests in Antrim, Bangor, and Ballymena, and two cars were set alight in Newtownabbey. In London, a group of about 60 protesters gathered in Parliament Square, claiming that police were “traitors” and attempting to goad individual officers.

 

Some shouted anti-immigrant slogans and chanted about the murder of Henry Nowak as well as the knife attack in Belfast. Most of the group protested peacefully.

 

Politicians and community leaders accused the far right of seeking to foment unrest in Northern Ireland and across the UK.

 

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a far-right agitator who refers to himself as Tommy Robinson, shared the video of the Belfast attack and posted a call for protests in central London and elsewhere in the UK.

 

The stabbing happened at about 10.30pm on Monday outside a block of flats in north Belfast. Video shared on social media showed a man straddling another man on the ground and striking at his head and neck. A kitchen knife was recovered from the scene. Police said the victim, in his 40s, had serious injuries to his eyes, face and back.

 

The clip showed people intervening to stop the assault, with one man, later named as Maitiu Mag Tighearnan, using a hurling stick against the attacker multiple times.

 

In addition to attempted murder, the suspect was charged with possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place and threats to kill.

 

Jon Boutcher, the chief constable of the Northern Ireland police service, told a press conference he believed the suspect was granted leave to remain in the UK on 28 September 2023. “I’m informed that he made his way from Sudan to Paris at dates unknown, and from Paris he flew to Dublin at a date yet to be determined.”

 

The suspect travelled from Dublin to Belfast by bus on 10 February 2023 and claimed asylum, said Boutcher. “There is no trace of this suspect on any of our national security databases, and he was not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. I’ve been in direct contact with the head of terrorism policing in the UK. At this stage, we have no information to suggest that this was terrorist-related.”

 

The chief constable asked protesters not to be goaded into disturbances: “People are incited by people who are faceless and know nothing about this brilliant, vibrant place. Do not be fooled or duped by people online.”

 

Immigrant communities expressed fear that they would be targeted. Sudanese business owners on Sandy Row, a loyalist area of central Belfast, closed their stores with steel shutters by 4pm and said they planned to stay at home that night.

 

The Belfast Islamic Centre cancelled evening prayers. “We are telling our congregation to go home, don’t go out, look after your children, don’t share rumours and do listen to the authorities,” said Ameer Ibrahim, a project manager who spoke in a personal capacity.

 

Keir Starmer called Monday night’s attack sickening. “I have absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets. My thoughts are first and foremost with the victim, and I thank the first responders, including members of the public who intervened.”

 

Rightwing commentators from England and the US, including the MP Rupert Lowe and billionaire owner of X Elon Musk, posted about the attack. Musk shared a list of potential protest areas in the UK and wrote: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”

 

Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, said: “The horror of what you have seen in Belfast is a direct result of treacherous Tory and Labour immigration policy. Reform has already announced a total ban on visas for anyone from Sudan. Enough is enough.”