Belfast, anti-migrant protests and chaos. What happened

Protests in Belfast

The protests erupted in the aftermath of the arrest of a 30-year-old Sudanese manaccused of attempted murder for attacking a local resident with a knife, seriously injuring him in the face, neck and back. The victim, identified by local media as Stephen Ogilvieremains hospitalized in serious condition. According to what was reported by the police – reports the website of Daily Mail – the suspect is an asylum seeker who was subsequently granted refugee status and a residence permit in United Kingdom.

As the hours passed, the anger at the attack turned into an anti-immigration mobilization which, according to several testimonies, targeted homes and structures inhabited by migrants. Local politicians and religious leaders have denounced clearly racist incidents, claiming that some families were forced to leave their homes solely because of the color of their skin. In some areas of the city, groups of protesters damaged businesses frequented by foreigners, while a Middle Eastern grocery store was set on fire.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill strongly condemned the violencecalling them “hooliganism pure and simple” and stressing that the brutal stabbing cannot be used as a pretext to target innocent people. His deputy, Emma Little-Pengelly, also called for calm, reiterating that violence does not solve problems and ends up damaging the local communities themselves.

However, the affair has rekindled the Political debate on border controls between the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. The Northern Ireland police chief confirmed that the suspect had arrived in Ireland from Sudan passing through other European countries and had then reached Belfast in 2023 using the Common Travel Area, the regime that allows free movement between Ireland and the United Kingdom without systematic border checks. Conservative opposition figures and several unionist politicians have called for a review of security measures, arguing that the system could represent a vulnerability for immigration control.