Reuters: Anti-immigrant violence erupts across Belfast after knife attack

Masked men set houses on fire, forcing families to flee in Belfast and torching several vehicles in a wave of anti-immigrant violence on Tuesday night, following a knife attack in which a Sudanese man was charged with attempted murder.

Hundreds of protesters, many with their faces covered, attacked police and set vehicles on fire at multiple locations across Northern Ireland after footage of a knife attack in which one person suffered serious neck and head injuries went viral, Reuters reports.

Footage broadcast by the BBC shows police helping a family escape a burning house. Local politicians and a pastor said many of those attacked were black.

Residents on Wednesday morning toured damaged homes, some with smoke-blackened fronts, while others were completely burned out, with windows broken or burned out. Some cars were turned into wrecks.

"There can be no excuse or justification for these attacks," said Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill.

"Groups of masked men burning down houses and driving families out are nothing short of despicable cowardice."

Starmer described knife attack as 'horrific'

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer described the initial knife attack, which took place late Monday night in north Belfast, as "horrific".

The attack, which is not currently being treated as terrorism, came at a time of heightened tensions in Britain following the killing of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh, falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist attack.

It also comes after repeated protests over immigration, with populist parties claiming that Britain's asylum policy has allowed dangerous men to enter the country.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has shared a number of messages condemning the situation in the United Kingdom. Responding to anti-immigration activist Tommy Robinson's post about the incident in north Belfast, in which he called for protests after "another attack by the invaders on our people," Musk wrote: "Only by protesting AGAIN and LOUD can change happen!!"

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long told Reuters that "malicious actors", who previously probably wouldn't have been able to find the province on a map, had tried to exploit the understandable fear and anger caused by the knife attack to target people of the same skin colour.

"Don't let your real concerns be manipulated by ill-intentioned actors," she said. "We in Northern Ireland know the damage that demonizing an entire group of people because of the behavior of a few can do, and we don't want to go back there."

Claire Hanna, leader of the opposition Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland, described the violence as a "racially motivated pogrom." "The online ecosystem that fueled this will now move on, and the people of Belfast will be left to reap the consequences," she told Reuters.

Smaller protests were also held outside Parliament in London, while other gatherings were reported across Britain.

Vehicles set on fire across the city

In Northern Ireland, masked youths gathered at several locations in Belfast early Tuesday evening, and police responded by deploying armored vehicles. Rioters set several cars on fire across the city, while a bus in east Belfast was completely engulfed in flames.

The BBC reported that a group of 100 men were breaking down doors and smashing windows in houses on a street in east Belfast.

"They're just throwing them out because they're black," Pastor Jack Mackie told the BBC after the attacks on homes in the north of the city.

The suspect in the knife attack, a 30-year-old Sudanese national, was charged Tuesday evening with attempted murder, possession of a bladed or pointed object in a public place, and making threats to kill.

He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court on Wednesday.

The victim, a man in his 40s, suffered serious eye injuries and cuts to his face and back during the "brutal" attack, and a kitchen knife was found at the scene, said Assistant Commissioner of Police for Northern Ireland Ryan Henderson.

The footage shows how several citizens tried to confront the attacker before the police arrived, and senior police officials assessed that this saved the life of the attacked man.

Northern Ireland was also hit by anti-immigrant riots last year, sparked by anger over an alleged sexual assault. Charges against two boys were later dropped by prosecutors.