A man in his 40s suffered serious injuries to his eyes, face and back in a knife attack, which happened on Monday evening in the Northern Irish capital Belfast. The police subsequently detained a thirty-year-old man of probably Sudanese origin, who is suspected of attempted murder. TASR informs about it on the basis of Sky News and BBC reports.
Shortly after the attack, it started to spread video footage captures the attacker straddling another man lying on the ground stabbing him repeatedly. Bystanders intervened and tried to stop the attack. The police arrived at the scene a few minutes later and arrested the assailant.
The Police of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said that they are investigating the motive for this act, but have provisionally ruled out terrorism. According to findings so far, the suspect moved first in an as-yet undetermined period of time from Sudan to Paris and from there he flew to Dublin. In February 2023, he arrived by bus from the Irish capital to Belfast, where he applied for asylum. He received a residence permit in Britain in September of the same year. He lived in Belfast near the scene of the attack, which happened outside a housing complex on Kinnaird Avenue.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack ‘horrific’ and ‘disgusting’ and thanked the citizens who intervened and prevented further bloodshed. Northern Irish politicians strongly condemned the attack. Minister of Justice Naomi Long urged the public to remain calm and not to spread the video capturing the act.
The same appeal was issued by the police, who said it could cause further trauma to the victim’s family and disrupt the investigation. At the same time, she drew attention to the wave of misinformation, that appeared on social networks after the incident – including false claims about the motive, the victim’s identity or the attacker’s alleged attempt to cut off the victim’s head. According to TheJournal.ie, some social media accounts are using the incident to fuel tensions and spread anti-immigration sentiment.
Tensions have risen in Britain since last week’s violence in Southampton, southern England, triggered by the police’s handling of the murder of an 18-year-old student by a Sikh man. It turned out that the attacker lied to the police that he was the victim of a racial attack. As a result, the police handcuffed the student even though he was mortally wounded.
