Stabbing suspect due in court after night of anti-immigrant protests in Northern Ireland

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BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — A 30-year-old man from Sudan is due in a Belfast court Wednesday on an attempted murder charge over a stabbing attack that left a victim seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence in several parts of Northern Ireland.

Masked men set several homes they believed to house immigrants on fire, burned trash bins and a Belfast bus and pelted police with objects on Tuesday night. Firefighters rescued several people from burning homes.

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

“I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbors, but last night was a horrific one,” he said. “We don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next.”

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

“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said that “taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.”

Monday’s attack, caught in graphic video footage that quickly spread on social media, was seized on by anti-immigration activists. The victim, a man in his 40s, was hospitalized with serious injuries to his eyes, face and back after he was attacked in north Belfast.

Police said the suspect is a Sudanese man who entered Northern Ireland from the neighboring Republic of Ireland in 2023, applied for asylum and was given a 5-year permit to remain.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there is no information to suggest the attack is terrorism-related and they are not seeking other suspects.

The street violence erupted despite calls from politicians for calm.

Prime Minister Starmer condemned the stabbing attack as “sickening” and said that he had “no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets.”

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

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators who “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map” were “weaponizing” the fears of local people.

“If you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the color of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,” she told the BBC.

Some politicians said the stabbing should spark a review of the open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland.

The border is a highly sensitive issue. Allowing the free flow of people back and forth is a major pillar of the peace process that largely ended decades of violence known as “The Troubles.” The conflict involving Irish Republican and British Loyalist militants and U.K. security forces left almost 3,600 people dead before a 1998 peace accord.

Much of Tuesday’s violence took place in working-class areas where former paramilitary groups still hold considerable sway over the streets.

Last week a separate case of a university student who was stabbed to death in Southampton, England in December was seized on by activists and U.S. Vice President JD Vance,who blamed immigration 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 a racist assault by Nowak. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded Nowak as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.

Digwa was convicted of murder for stabbing Nowak with a Sikh dagger and sentenced last week to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term. But the case has spurred heated debates about policing and race, and a protest over Nowak’s death turned violent with some attacking police with chairs and rocks. Several people were charged with violent disorder over the protest.

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Lawless reported from London.