Why Belfast was so angry before riots | Politics | News

Defending a street or land has been a way of life in some parts of Belfast for decades.

Like the rest of the UK, issues around housing, social cohesion and crime have brought tensions over immigration to boiling point.

But in Belfast, anger can quickly turn into something else. Something darker.

And community leaders are desperately trying to prevent another “cycle” of chaos from breaking out in Northern Ireland following the horrific knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie.

A Sudanese immigrant was accused of stabbing Mr Ogilvie multiple times in the head and face.

Ron McDowell, deputy chairman of the Traditional Unionist Voice, pleaded with masked protesters not to throw the Shankill Road into mayhem.

But hours later, houses were set on fire, cars were set on fire and people were evacuated to safety by police.

Traveling the Shankill Road using the Daily Express, Mr McDowell said: “They were saying it’s a line and ‘send them back’. They don’t want the hassle of immigration.”

“There’s a small school in the area. The situation wasn’t very good and immigrant families were coming into Belfast from the back door of Dublin, which is a sore spot as they don’t like Dublin, but families were put up in hotels all over the city and bussed to school.

“Immigrant families are buying uniforms. This is not the families’ fault, but the politicians’ fault.

“There’s a special menu for cultural reasons. It’s ‘them and us’. People are tired of it.”

“People see immigrants buying homes in an area where they couldn’t afford one.

“They no longer believe in the political answer.

“There was always a siege mentality here, Shankill never really lost that and now it is definitely back and back with a vengeance.

“This really is a case of ‘we’re holding on to what we’ve got’.”

Asked about the term traditionally used by military personnel, Major McDowell said: “These are militant people and always have been.

“But they can’t get caught up in a cycle of violence. Then our bet won’t win.”

“This situation is being exploited by people in the shadows.

“I was calling for peaceful protest and I was basically told ‘peace doesn’t work… peace doesn’t get us anything.’

“It was clear that people were angry. They wanted to vent their anger. I was personally devastated by the violence.”

Northern Ireland Minister Hilary Benn said “law and order will come” for those causing unrest in Northern Ireland in recent days.

He added: “We cannot allow the citizens of the United Kingdom, the residents of Northern Ireland, to be subjected to fear by this kind of mindless thuggery.”

Dorothy Evitt, 42, told the Daily Express about the chaos she saw on Tuesday night. He said: “He [a woman in a house approached by rioters] ‘I have children here, I am white,’ he shouts. So I was thinking… People were actually clarifying the issue [that they weren’t migrants]. “Then we saw the doors moving in a ‘boom, boom, boom’ pattern.”

Ms Evitt added: “They were saying, ‘You’re okay, you’re okay’.” [to white families]. They knew what they were looking for. They had an agenda.

“They knew exactly where they were going.

“I could hear people shouting, ‘shut your doors, you’re OK.’ I thought they were heading towards a road where there were a lot of HMOs.

“I didn’t support violence, but I was happy with the protests.

“Immigration has put such a strain on this region. The situation is very bad. Very bad. I have an eight-year-old daughter and she is not allowed to play outside.”

Riots also broke out elsewhere in Northern Ireland.

Police used water cannon as ski-masked rioters pelted officers with bricks and tear gas in County Antrim on Wednesday night.

Footage showed dozens of men dressed in black and covering their faces gathered on Antrim Road, where they ripped bricks from properties and smashed paving stones with sledgehammers to create projectiles to throw at police.

Pensioner Derek Waters, who has lived on the street for 30 years, told the Daily Express: “It was a normal protest but it turned violent, it turned ugly.

“They were rioting at the intersection but the police came to stop them from reaching the highway and damaged people’s property.

“Then the house across the street was set on fire. They went in, took the old vehicle from behind and set it on the road. We saw smoke rising from the building. They set it on fire, too.

“This one belongs to the guy next door. He’s 91 years old. It’s a good thing no one lives in it.”

His wife Lorna added: “We were afraid they would take our car too.

“We were really scared as they were quite slow in moving them back and we were worried about our home.

“It’s getting very scary.

“We don’t mind protests, but we don’t mind violence either, that’s out of the question.”