Anti-Immigrant Rioters Torch Homes and Vehicles in Belfast After 30-Year-Old Is Charged
Updated
Updated · CNN · Jun 9
Anti-Immigrant Rioters Torch Homes and Vehicles in Belfast After 30-Year-Old Is Charged
3 articles · Updated · CNN · Jun 9
Summary
Masked crowds in Belfast set houses, a bus, cars and barricades on fire Tuesday night, with further vehicle burnings reported in Newtownabbey and Kilkeel.
The unrest followed attempted murder charges against a 30-year-old man believed to be from Sudan over a Monday knife attack that left a man in his 40s seriously injured.
Police said the suspect entered Northern Ireland from Dublin in February 2023, claimed asylum and had permission to remain in the UK until 2028; they said there is no evidence of terrorism.
Videos of the stabbing spread online and anti-immigrant accounts on X called for protests, which also appeared in Bangor, Glasgow and London.
Keir Starmer, Michelle O'Neill and other Northern Ireland leaders condemned the violence as racist thuggery and urged calm amid broader UK tensions over immigration.