"Don't use our tragedy to incite violence"

The family of a man who lost an eye in a knife attack called for calm yesterday after the incident sparked a wave of anti-immigrant violence in Belfast overnight, with masked men torching cars and houses and forcing families to leave.

The appeal came as 30-year-old Sudanese Hadi Alodid appeared in court, charged with attempted murder, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and politicians in Northern Ireland condemned violence by "masked thugs" targeting ethnic minorities.

The victim, Stephen Ogilvy, is in hospital after losing his left eye in the attack. Footage of the attack was shared on social media late Monday night and throughout Tuesday.

In the ensuing violence, groups of people, including masked men, set fire to vehicles and houses and blocked roads in and around Belfast on Tuesday evening, hours after Elon Musk, the American billionaire and owner of Platform X, Tommy Robinson, a British far-right activist, and other agitators called on people to take to the streets.

“We are completely devastated by the horrific attack on our loved one,” Ogilvy’s family said in a statement released by Philip Brett, the Democratic Unionist Party MP for North Belfast in the Northern Ireland Assembly. “This has been a huge shock to our entire family and our only priority now is to be at his hospital bedside and help him recover.”

They added that unrest and division were “not welcome” in response to the attack. “We are aware of the tensions and the announcements of protests following this incident. We want to make it absolutely clear that tonight’s unrest is not welcome and that peaceful protest is the only way forward,” they said. “We have many migrants who make an incredibly valuable contribution to our country, including to our healthcare system and hospitality sector, and we depend on them to keep our country running. We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or to incite hostility.”

It was announced on Tuesday that Alodid had been granted five years' leave to remain in the UK after entering from Ireland. After a brief hearing yesterday, he was remanded in custody for four weeks.

Judge Stephen Keown refused to grant bail to Alodid, and the case was adjourned until July 8, the Guardian reported.

At the end of the hearing, Kioun said he wanted to “emphasize that our thoughts at this time are with the victim and his family, as well as with the emergency services and citizens who came to the victim’s aid,” adding that they should be “commendated” for that.

In an unusual reference to the riots that broke out across Belfast following the attack, the judge condemned “the fact that those emergency services were attacked” and said the perpetrators would be dealt with severely.

Addressing directly the messages circulating on Wednesday urging protesters to continue gathering, wearing masks and dark clothing, he said those who participate in the violence “can also expect to end up in prison,” adding: “And that message will be sent loud and clear.”

Ogilvie's family said: "We would like to express our deepest gratitude to the local people who bravely intervened during the attack. Your quick response truly saved his life and we will never forget what you did for him at that moment. We would also like to thank the emergency services, doctors and nurses who cared for him."

Speaking in parliament in London, Starmer said the attack raised serious questions but that "driving people out of their homes is not... the right way to respond", adding that anyone involved in the violence would face "the full force of the law".

Footage of the attack circulated online, sparking calls for violent protests on social media.

Police had to help a family escape a burning house. Several cars and a bus were set on fire and reduced to rubble. Local politicians and a pastor said many of those targeted were black.

Local resident Jamie Cory, 33, said he could only watch as his house went up in flames.

“I was actually standing right there watching my whole house slowly but surely burn down,” he told Reuters. “I told them, and I told everyone, as they were setting the car on fire: that’s my property, that’s my property... and they still didn’t care.”

Despite his own situation, he said he understood to some extent the anger people felt.

“People are angry, they’re venting, you understand why,” he said. “I mean, one of our people was practically butchered in the middle of the street.”

In response to calls by Musk, Robinson and others for the protests to continue, the Chief Constable of Northern Ireland said an extra 200 officers would be deployed to the streets. “These idiots didn’t just target ethnic minorities… they targeted society,” said Chief Constable John Boucher.

Belfast pastor Jack Mackie told the BBC that some members of his church, who have lived there for 20 years, have been "kicked out just because they are black".

Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill described the violence perpetrated by the masked men as "nothing short of abhorrent cowardice".

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 while dying from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh, falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist attack.

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

For 30 years, Northern Ireland was wracked by violence known as “The Troubles,” between mostly Catholic Irish nationalists who sought Irish unity and mostly Protestant pro-British “loyalists” who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom. More than 3.600 people died in the conflict.

Although some specific groups remain active and unrest still breaks out frequently, the 1998 Good Friday Agreement largely ended the killings.

In recent years, the sectarian violence that had long plagued the region has begun to give way to increasingly frequent incidents motivated by racism.

According to the 2021 census, 97 percent of Northern Ireland's population is white, but migration has been increasing in recent years, and with it growing hostility towards immigrants.

According to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, in the year ending March 2026, there were 2.367 racially motivated incidents and 1.507 hate crimes, the highest number since records began in 2004/05. There were 71 sectarian incidents in the same period.

Anti-migrant riots also occurred in 2024 and 2025. Last year's riots were sparked by charges against two Romanian teenagers for alleged sexual assault, which prosecutors later dropped.

“I'm afraid I might be the next one to be attacked on the street,” said 48-year-old Anselm Shima, who moved to Northern Ireland from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2013 and has lived on the street next to Corrie's house for almost a decade.

"I couldn't take my son to school because I don't know... if we'll even make it to school. That's why we're locked in the house, along with my wife and three children."