Northern Ireland was engulfed in chaos Tuesday as anti-immigration protests erupted into violent riots. This unrest came in the wake of a horrifying knife attack allegedly perpetrated by a Sudanese migrant, leaving the community in shock and anger. Masked demonstrators responded by smashing windows, setting ablaze homes, and torching buses, further escalating the situation.
The catalyst for this turmoil was the grievous incident involving a 30-year-old asylum seeker from Sudan. He has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly attempting to behead a man in Belfast on Monday night, an incident captured in a disturbing video shared by Turning Point UK.
The footage reveals the terrifying scene as the bloodied victim struggles, kicking his legs in desperation, while the assailant relentlessly stabs him in the head and neck. Cries from onlookers pierce the air, with one woman shouting, “Get off him, you f–king rat!” as a man exclaims in horror, “He’s trying to cut his head off. He’s slicing his head off.”
Brave locals rushed to the victim’s aid, including one person who struck the attacker with a stick in an attempt to stop the assault. The victim, a man in his 40s whose identity remains undisclosed, suffered significant injuries, particularly to his eyes, as well as serious slash wounds to his back and face, according to police reports describing the attack as “brutal.”
Other horrified locals rushed to intervene, including one who clobbered the attacker with a stick.
The victim, an unidentified local man in his 40s, was left with significant injuries to his eyes and serious slash wounds to his back and face, police said of the “brutal” assault.
Far-right activists on social media called for mass immigration demonstrations following the heinous knifing.
Crowds of agitated protesters, including masked men, hijacked vehicles, torched homes, police cars and vandalized businesses across Belfast, the BBC reported.
Emergency responders swarmed the city after demonstrators smashed doors and set fire to several homes off Crumlin Road in northern and eastern Belfast — displacing longtime residents and filling the air with thick black smoke, the outlet reported.
Masked demonstrators smashed windows and kicked down doors while yelling they were “getting the foreigners out.”
Wild photos captured a Glider bus engulfed in flames and billowing smoke after it was hijacked and torched.
Northern Ireland’s first minister, Michelle O’Neill, blasted the destruction as “outright thuggery.”
“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” O’Neill wrote on X. “This has nothing to do with community. This is outright thuggery.
“The attack in North Belfast was heinous and wrong. But there are dangerous attempts to exploit that to target and attack innocent people who are simply trying to live, work, and raise their families here.”
The motive for Monday’s horrific attack remains unclear, but police so far have “no information to suggest that this was a terrorist-related incident,” Ryan Henderson, the assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said in a press conference Tuesday.
The suspect was living in the UK “under a five-year visa,” Gavin Robinson, the Democratic Unionist Party leader, told the House of Commons — calling for him to be “convicted and deported on the first flight out.”
SpaceX founder Elon Musk also posted on X that “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!” in response to a list of scheduled demonstrations posted by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.
Henderson appealed for calm in the wake of the violent outbursts, the Guardian reported.
“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,” Henderson said.
“We are urging everyone to remain calm, act responsibly, and avoid any activity that could place themselves or others at risk.”
