Stabbing Suspect Appears In Court After Night Of Anti-Immigrant Protests In Northern Ireland

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — A 30-year-old Sudanese man appeared in a Belfast court on Wednesday on an attempted murder charge. stabbing attack This incident left one victim seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence in several parts of Northern Ireland.

Prosecutors said Hadi Alodid, 30, was ordered to be kept in prison after he appeared on video at Belfast Magistrates’ Court accused of blinding Stephen Ogilvie in his left eye during the stabbing. He was also charged the same day with threatening to kill a radiographer and possessing a knife.

Alodid refused legal representation through an Arabic translator and did not enter a defence.

The court hearing came after a night of violence in which masked men set fire to several houses they believed were housing migrants, set fire to bins, set fire to a Belfast bus and pelted objects at police. Fire crews rescued many people from burning houses.

Belfast resident Anselme Shima, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he saw smoke coming from burning vehicles near his home.

“I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have good relations with my neighbours, but last night was terrible,” he said. “We don’t know what to do. I’m scared. When I see this, I wonder if I’m next.”

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

“Groups of masked men burning families from their homes is nothing short of a disgusting act of cowardice,” he said.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said it was “completely wrong to take out your frustration at one person’s bad actions on those who had no part in it”.

Monday’s attack was captured in sensational video footage that spread quickly on social media and was noticed by anti-immigration activists. Ogilvie, a man in his 40s, was taken to hospital with serious injuries to his face and back after being stabbed.

Police said Alodid entered Northern Ireland from the neighboring Republic of Ireland in 2023, applied for asylum and was granted a 5-year permit to stay.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there was no information that the attack was linked to terrorism and they were not looking for any other suspects.

Street violence broke out despite calls for calm from politicians.

Prime Minister Starmer condemned the knife attack as “sickening” but said violence against people based on their background would not be tolerated.

Starmer told

The protests were encouraged online by far-right activists, including Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

Northern Ireland Justice Secretary Naomi Long said social media agitators who “had trouble finding Belfast on a map yesterday” were “weaponising” local people’s fears.

He told the BBC: “If you’re deporting people from their homes based solely on skin colour, you can’t hide it any other way, that’s racism and malicious actors need to stand down.”

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

The border is a very sensitive issue. Allowing the free movement of people back and forth is an important pillar of the peace process, which has largely ended Decades of violence Known as “Issues”. The conflict, involving Irish Republican and British Loyalist militants and UK security forces, had killed almost 3,600 people before the 1998 peace deal.

Much of Tuesday’s violence took place in working-class areas where former paramilitary groups still wield significant influence on the streets.

A separate case last week a university student The man who was stabbed to death in Southampton, England, in December was captured by activists and US Vice President J.D. VanceHe blamed immigrants for the violence.

Henry Nowak, who was white, was killed by Vickrum Digwa, a Sikh who falsely claimed to police that he was the victim of Nowak’s racist attack. When police officers arrived at the scene, they initially treated the injured Nowak as a suspect, then noticed his wound and attempted to resuscitate him.

Digwa was found guilty of murder for stabbing Nowak with a Sikh dagger and was sentenced last week to a minimum of 21 years in prison. But the case sparked heated debates about policing and race, and a protest over Nowak’s death turned violent, with some officers attacking officers with chairs and rocks. Many people were charged with violent disorder due to the protest.

Lawless reported from London.