Police blast protesters with water cannons as anti-immigration protests unleash night of terror in Northern Ireland

Police blasted water cannons at protesters in Northern Ireland who set small fires and hurled bricks, rocks and bottles at them during a second night of violence over a brutal stabbing on a Belfast street.

Demonstrators wearing masks tore bricks from the walls outside homes and smashed sidewalks with sledgehammers to toss at riot police on Wednesday. In one place, the unruly crowd used sections of a dismantled a picket fence to take cover on the street.

The “devastated” family of a man blinded in one eye in a stabbing attack that kicked off a night of destructive anti-immigrant riots in Belfast has appealed for calm, pleading with people not to use it to stir up division.

Stephen Ogilvie’s family highlighted the important contribution migrants make to Northern Ireland and thanked the bystanders whose “quick actions absolutely saved his life”.

Sudanese man Hadi Alodid, 30, faced Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder, possessing a knife and threatening to kill a radiographer while being treated for a hand injury after the assault.

Monday’s attack, caught in video footage that quickly spread on social media, was seized on by anti-immigration activists. Ogilvie, a man in his 40s, was hospitalised with deep cuts to his head, face and back.

The next night, masked men set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, burned rubbish bins, torched a Belfast bus and pelted police with objects. Firefighters rescued several people from burning homes.

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His family said they were aware of the tensions and talk of protests.

“We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward,” they said in a statement issued on Wednesday.

“We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector, and we depend on them to make our country work. 

“We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.”

A detective told the court Alodid blinded Ogilvie in the left eye during the knife attack and that when police arrived they found Alodid on the man, armed with a kitchen knife.

Alodid later told hospital staff, “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead” and said “I will kill you”, the court heard.

He refused legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea.

Residents tell of horror

The street violence, which erupted despite politicians’ calls for calm, left a mark on affected residents.

Anselme Shima, a Belfast resident originally from Congo, said he saw smoke from burning vehicles near his home.

“I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbours, but last night was a horrific one,” he said. 

“We don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next.”

Families, one with a baby, were rescued and taken to police stations for safety, Chief Constable Jon Boutcher told the BBC.

“These weren’t just families from ethnic minority communities, these were families from across communities that were caught up in this vile behaviour last night,” Boutcher said. “There is absolutely no excuse for it.”

Politicians from both parts of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government condemned the violence. First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein said it was “thuggery”.

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“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said that “taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong”.

Ogilvie’s family said they were “completely devastated by the horrific attack”, which they described as a “massive shock to our whole family”, and their only priority was being by Ogilvie’s bedside.

“​We want to say a profound thank you to the local people who bravely stepped in during the attack,” they said.

“Your quick actions absolutely saved his life, and we will never forget what you did for him in that moment. We also want to thank the emergency services and the doctors and nurses looking after him.”

Alodid’s entry to Northern Ireland

Police said Alodid entered Northern Ireland from the neighbouring Republic of Ireland in 2023, applied for asylum and was given a five-year permit to remain.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there was no information to suggest the attack was terrorism-related and they were not seeking other suspects.

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators who “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map” were “weaponising” the fears of local people.

“If you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the colour of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,” she told the BBC.

Some politicians said the stabbing should spark a review of the open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland.

The border is a highly sensitive issue. Allowing the free flow of people is a major pillar of the peace process that largely ended decades of violence known as “The Troubles”.

The conflict involving Irish Republican and British Loyalist militants and UK security forces left almost 3600 people dead before a 1998 peace accord.

- Reported with AP