Twelve police officers were injured and 16 people arrested during the second night of trouble in Northern Ireland, sparked by a serious knife attack in Belfast.
The incidents erupted after a stabbing on June 8. According to police, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, an asylum seeker, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after seriously injuring a local resident, Stephen Ogilvie, 44. The man apparently lost his left eye.
After videos of the attack spread online, demonstrations took place which in several cases degenerated into violence. Groups of protesters set vehicles on fire, damaged homes and businesses and targeted some immigrant communities. Northern Irish police made arrests and deployed water cannons.
The authorities and main political leaders in Northern Ireland have condemned both the stabbing and the subsequent violence, calling for calm. Various sources report that the spread of content and comments on social media has contributed to fueling anti-immigration tensions and protests.
As the BBC reports, Hilary Benn, Britain’s minister for Northern Ireland, says that fortunately there was less rioting last night and she hopes this means that “people are reflecting on the truly shocking scenes we witnessed on Tuesday evening, with people forced from their burning homes because of the color of their skin.” “There is no justification for any of this, and nothing can justify it; it has left many people terrified.”
Benn told the BBC’s Breakfast program that he wanted to convey the sense of fear that “has spread among ethnic minorities” in Northern Ireland following the incidents of violence. “There have been people stopped in their cars on their way to work to ask them what their nationality was.”
“We are deeply shocked by the terrible attack suffered by our loved one on Kinnaird Avenue. It was a huge shock for our entire family and, at this moment, our only priority is to stay at his bedside and help him recover”, said the victim’s family. In their statement the Stephen Ogilvie family added: “We were deeply shocked by the scenes that occurred across Northern Ireland yesterday following what happened. We want to make it unequivocally clear that our family does not condone these types of reactions and that peaceful protest is always the only way forward. We have many migrants who make an extremely valuable contribution to our country, including within our healthcare system and in the hospitality sector, and we depend on them to make our country work. We do not We want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility: don’t do it in the name of the person we love, as we don’t share the same values.”
