Thousands rally in Belfast to condemn anti-immigrant rioting that followed stabbing
LONDON (AP) — Thousands of demonstrators gathered in Belfast on Saturday to condemn anti-immigrant rioters setting fire to houses and cars, following a brutal stabbing earlier in the week for which an asylum seeker was accused.
The anti-racism rally followed nights of fiery violence in parts of Northern Ireland after a 30-year-old Sudanese man was arrested on an attempted murder charge. stab this left one man partially blind.
The protests turned violent, with masked men setting fire to several houses they believed were hosting migrants, setting fire to a bus and pelting police with bricks, bottles and firebombs. More than two dozen people were left homeless and 12 police officers were injured in what authorities called “banditry.”
“All it takes is one non-white, non-indigenous person to commit a crime and the flames of racism to be reignited,” Elaine Crory told a crowd gathered outside Belfast City Hall.
Peaceful demonstrators carried banners reading “The problem is not race, but evil and violence”, “Your racism is not patriotism” and “Protect people, not prejudice”.
Newlyweds Cara Bell and Matthew Richardson said it was a happy coincidence that they got married at City Hall and attended the peaceful demonstration after the ugly violence they witnessed earlier in the week.
“It’s important to note that events like today show that this is not the general feeling of people in Belfast,” Bell said, noting that this was “a week in Belfast where you see the worst and the best of humanity.”
Despite calls for calm from authorities and the victim’s family, far-right and anti-immigrant figures were accused of inciting protests in various parts of the UK earlier in the week.
Unrest in Glasgow, Scotland, targeted minorities and worshipers at a mosque were quarantined in fear, police said.
On Saturday, an anti-racist group brought together thousands of people to take back the streets of Glasgow and “oppose the far right”.
The group was met by a much smaller contingent of mostly men, who gave Nazi salutes and chanted anti-Muslim slogans.
“Nazi scum off our streets,” the anti-racist group shouted.
