Riots in Belfast after knife attack – vehicles and buildings set on fire

Riots on Tuesday evening

Residents had to be rescued by firefighters from burning houses. A building near the city centre caught fire, and its residents had to be evacuated. Hundreds of people had reportedly gathered in the city beforehand to demonstrate against immigration.

Resident Eemran, an engineer of Indian origin who has lived in Belfast for just over a year, described the situation. Around 7:30 p.m. they set fires in the rubbish bins, "We heard police cars and sirens. More and more people started coming and began throwing incendiary devices. Suddenly the fire spread … we had smoke in the building. "Ultimately, firefighters came into the house and got everyone out, Eemran reported in broken English to the AFP news agency.

Eemran also described: „By 7.30pm they started [a] fire in the bins … we heard police cars and sirens. More and more people started coming, they started throwing petrol bombs. Suddenly the fire started going … we had smoke inside the building … fire people came in and they said 'go down'“

Voices from Belfast

The 36-year-old Chilean Camila, who had only moved to Belfast a month earlier, spoke of a "frightening" situation. „Of course I'm not used to it“. „I understand the people's rage but also there are ways of discussing these things more peacefully."

Keir Starmer condemned the violence. „Ich habe absolut keine Toleranz für abscheuliche Szenen der Gewalt wie diese auf unseren Straßen“, so Starmer. He also called for calm. Michelle O'Neill sharply condemned the protests and called for calm. „Gruppen maskierter Männer, die Familien aus ihren Häusern vertreiben, indem sie diese niederbrennen - das ist nichts anderes als widerliche Feigheit“, she wrote on the online service X.

Political reactions

According to media reports, there were also protests in other cities, such as Southampton. There, riots had occurred just last week following a fatal knife attack on a student. A knife attack on an open street has thrown the Northern Irish city of Belfast into turmoil.

The motive is so far unclear. According to police, the attacker is a Sudanese man who is legally in the United Kingdom. The demonstrations followed the release of a video of a knife attack for which a Sudanese migrant is held responsible.

Following a brutal knife attack in Belfast, xenophobic protests in the Northern Irish city escalated: demonstrators set cars and also buildings on fire on Tuesday evening. The occasion was a knife attack on Monday in which a man was seriously injured.