BELFAST — A wave of anti-immigrant riots ripped through Belfast on Thursday, with police deploying water cannon as far-right protesters set vehicles ablaze, burned homes and targeted ethnic minority-owned businesses in the worst outbreak of sectarian violence Northern Ireland has seen in years.
The unrest, triggered by a knife attack on Monday in which a Sudanese national is alleged to have stabbed a 44-year-old local man, has spiralled into coordinated racist violence not seen in Belfast since the height of the Troubles. Rioters as young as 10 were documented marching through east Belfast’s Lower Newtownards Road, setting buses and cars on fire within an hour of converging on the area.
Social media lists — some generated by AI, shared by figures including far-right agitator Tommy Robinson and amplified by Elon Musk — circulated names of streets and businesses across Belfast and further cities in England and Scotland. A message directing protesters to “All Bunnesses [sic] shut up shop by 5.30pm” spread widely online before the violence began.
“The whole of the United Kingdom is hitting the streets tonight at 7pm following yet another invader attack on our people,” Robinson wrote on his platform.
Among the targets was Sham supermarket, an ethnic minority-owned business that was burned to the shell. Zeinab, a Sudanese mother of three who asked for her surname to be withheld, told Al Jazeera she fled her east Belfast home as rioters approached. She and her children were taken in by an Irish family outside the city.
“We strongly condemn and reject what happened,” she said. “Unfortunately, it turned out that the suspect is of Sudanese nationality. But this is the opposite of what is known about our Sudanese people. They are kind people, known for their generosity.”
Police declared the knife attack a critical incident on Monday. The alleged assailant, a 30-year-old Sudanese national who entered Northern Ireland via the Irish Republic, has been charged with attempted murder. The victim, Stephen Ogilvie, 44, remains in hospital with life-changing facial and back injuries and has reportedly lost an eye.
Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Director Patrick Corrigan told Al Jazeera that anti-Islam sentiment was a more prominent feature of the current riots compared with previous episodes of unrest in the region. Graffiti reading “F* Islam” was daubed on the shutters of a halal butcher shop in the affected area.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the violence as “unjustified” and pledged government support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The PSNI deployed water cannon for the second consecutive night as crowds continued to clash with officers into the early hours of Friday morning.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister and deputy First Minister convened an emergency meeting on Thursday evening. Community leaders called for calm while acknowledging the deep anxiety felt by ethnic minority communities who have been targeted simply because of the colour of their skin or the faith they practice.
The violence has drawn international condemnation and renewed scrutiny of the far-right networks operating across the island of Ireland and the wider United Kingdom. Investigations into the origin and spread of the AI-generated target lists are underway.