A Brazilian immigrant who has lived in Northern Ireland for four years reports the wave of violence caused by protests that have been taking place in the country since Tuesday (9) after a Sudanese immigrant attacked a man with a knife and was accused of attempted murder.
Despite living legally in the country, the 36-year-old man did not want to identify himself. He says that protesters are “looking for” immigrants. “People were checking cars to see if there were immigrants, they set houses on fire. So it ends up being risky for us,” he explains.
Masked men set fire to family homes in Belfast, the country’s capital, and set fire to cars and buses after a video of the attack, in which the victim lost an eye, went viral.
“And if there is a protest where I am here, I won’t even leave the house”, he expresses.
Political leaders have said the violence targets ethnic minorities. “It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate that,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement. “Those responsible will feel the full rigor of the law.”
The suspect in the attack in north Belfast, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, identified as Hadi Alodid, appeared in court this Wednesday (10), where he was remanded in custody. The victim, in his 40s, suffered serious injuries to his face and back, the court heard.
The disorder in Northern Ireland is the latest episode of violence in the UK in response to a crime often linked to immigrants, which has led some prominent anti-Islamic and anti-immigration campaigners to call on people to “take to the streets”.
Belfast pastor Jack McKee told British broadcaster BBC that some members of his church, who had lived there for 20 years, were being expelled simply because they were black.
The Brazilian who lives an hour from Belfast, the country’s capital, where the main protests are taking place, highlights that “not all immigrants represent a threat”.
“Now they are saying ‘no immigration’, because a lot of bad things are happening, but the good pay for the bad. Not all immigrants will act like this”, he expresses.
The man also says that new demonstrations are scheduled for this Wednesday (10) in other cities in the country.
Elon Musk calls for protests
The attack, which is not currently being treated as terrorism, comes at a time of heightened tensions in the UK following the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he agonized from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh man, falsely claimed a racist attack.
The case also comes after repeated protests over immigration, with populist parties claiming that the UK’s asylum policy has allowed dangerous men into the country.
Technology billionaire Elon Musk republished several messages denouncing the situation in the United Kingdom. In response to a post by anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson about the case in north Belfast, in which he called for protests after “yet another attack by invaders against our people”, Musk said: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUD will there be any change!!”
Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long told the Reuters news agency that “people of bad faith”, who would previously have had difficulty finding the province on a map, had tried to exploit the understandable fear and anger provoked by the knife attack to attack people of the same skin colour.
“Do not allow your genuine concerns to be manipulated by people of bad faith,” she said. “We know in Northern Ireland the damage that can be done when you demonize an entire group of people because of the behavior of a few, and we don’t want to go back to that situation.”
Smaller protests were reported in other parts of Britain on Tuesday night, including London, where protesters briefly blocked Parliament Square, and in Scotland’s two biggest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Immigration in the country
Immigration has been historically low in Northern Ireland due to the three-decade conflict between Irish nationalists, mostly Catholics, who sought the unification of Ireland, and pro-British unionists, predominantly Protestants, who wanted to remain in the United Kingdom, and the British military.
Migration has increased in recent years, and anti-immigration sentiment has intensified both in Northern Ireland and parts of the Republic of Ireland.
According to the 2021 census, 96.6% of Northern Ireland’s inhabitants were white.
Northern Ireland was also the scene of anti-immigration riots last year, amid outrage over an alleged sexual assault. Charges against two young men were later dropped by prosecutors.
Prime Minister condemns “cowardice of masked men”
Videos of the attack circulated online throughout Tuesday (9), sparking calls for violent protests on social media.
Police had to help a family escape a burning house. Several cars and a bus were set on fire and reduced to ashes. Local politicians and a pastor said many of the victims were black.
“There is no excuse or justification for these attacks,” said Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill. “Groups of masked men burning down houses and driving families from their homes is nothing short of an act of disgusting cowardice.”
Claire Hanna, leader of the SDLP (Northern Ireland’s opposition Social Democratic and Labor Party), described the violence as a “racial pogrom”. “The online ecosystem that fostered this will now move on and the people of Belfast will have to deal with the consequences,” she told Reuters.
*With information from Reuters news agency
