Authorities slam ‘racist thuggery’ after fresh unrest in N.Ireland

Police arrested 16 people during a second night of unrest in Northern Ireland following a violent stabbing in Belfast, a senior minister said Thursday, condemning those involved as engaging in “racist thuggery.”

Clashes with police erupted late Wednesday, hours after a Sudanese man appeared in court charged with attempted murder in connection with a knife attack on Monday night.

Video of the assault, which showed a man straddling another person lying in the street and repeatedly stabbing him, spread widely across social media and fueled anger that spilled into street violence across parts of Northern Ireland.

The victim, Stephen Ogilvie, was in “improving” condition Thursday, Democratic Unionist Party leader Gavin Robinson said after meeting his family.

Ogilvie’s relatives appealed for calm in the wake of the “terrible tragedy,” saying violence was “not welcome.”

Twelve officers were injured in the latest unrest, UK government Northern Ireland minister Hilary Benn said.

Dozens of masked agitators clashed with riot police late into the night, setting fire to a car and boarded-up property, AFP journalists reported.

Projectiles, including petrol bombs and bricks, were hurled as riot police used a water cannon to push back rioters trying to reach a hotel that had been used to house asylum seekers northwest of Belfast.

Benn said the scale of the unrest was “a lot less than the terrible events that we witnessed on Tuesday night.”

On Tuesday, masked rioters torched vehicles and buildings and forced families to flee their homes in Belfast.

Benn condemned “the sense of fear that has been created.”

“Above all for those who were intimidated, burned out of their houses by masked thugs on the basis of the color of their skin,” he said.

A nurse was “chased and intimidated” as she traveled to work at Ulster Hospital near Belfast on Wednesday, the body that runs the hospital said.

Northern Ireland’s largest mosque also was forced to close for the first time in its history Tuesday, said chairman Mohammed Arshed.

Two more people were charged in connection with the unrest and will appear in court later Thursday, following several others charged Wednesday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.

Most of the disturbances have occurred in Protestant, pro-UK unionist areas of Belfast, with Catholic, pro-Irish unity districts largely quiet.

Ryan Henderson, the force’s assistant chief constable, said there was “no evidence” the unrest had been coordinated by loyalist paramilitaries.

Authorities have instead blamed far-right activists for stoking anger on social media.

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

Video of the attack spread online after being posted on X by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, and was later amplified by billionaire X owner Elon Musk.

Tensions were already high across the UK. Violent clashes broke out in southern England last week over police handling of the killing of a white student by a British Sikh man.

Brendan, a 50-year-old plumber who joined the Belfast protests, said “nobody agrees with the violence,” noting that communities had endured decades of sectarian conflict over British rule of Northern Ireland that ended with a 1998 peace agreement.

But he added, “There’s nothing going to unite people more than crimes of inhumane acts like butchering people.”

John, who declined to give his surname, said, “There’s now a united Ireland… united because the ordinary people have realized that we have been played like puppets.”

He added that protesters were “genuinely concerned… we have an influx across Europe of migrants.”

Immigration remains a contentious issue in both the UK and Ireland and has helped fuel the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage.

Both countries have seen frequent anti-immigration protests in recent years, some turning violent.

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