Disruptions occurred for a second consecutive night yesterday in Belfast, after a knife attack for which a Sudanese refugee was charged.

Police used a water cannon to disperse the crowd protesters in Belfast, where more than a hundred people gathered in various parts of the city, in some cases peacefully.

The situation was tense from the start of the evening, however, on a street in Glengormley, in the north of the Northern Irish capital, where a significant police force was deployed, Agence France-Presse noted.

Protesters hurled objects, bricks and glass bottles, at law enforcement officers and set at least one rubbish bin on fire, police said.

The police used water jets to disperse the crowd.

There was no violence in Belfast city centre, unlike yesterday, when riots against immigrants broke out after a knife attack in Belfast on Monday night.

The victim of that attack, Steven Ogilvy, lost an eye. He is being treated in a stable condition, his family clarified yesterday, Wednesday, evening, in a statement released by police in which the family said they were “disgusted” by the scenes of violence that had unfolded the previous day.

These anti-immigration riots were described as “shocking” by Prime Minister Kir Starmer and Northern Ireland police announced the mobilisation of additional forces.

Reinforcements from the rest of the UK are expected to arrive today.

Deserted Streets

Calls for protests had been made by far-right figures, notably activist Tommy Robinson – his real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – and US billionaire Ilon Musk.

Despite calls for calm, the atmosphere was highly charged last night in Belfast, where many shops and restaurants remained closed and the city centre streets were deserted, Agence France-Presse found.

Graffiti of an Islamophobic nature has been written on walls and metal shutters of shops in the district where a bus was torched yesterday.

Residents interviewed by Agence France-Presse said they were shocked.

The violence erupted after a video of the knife attack on Monday went viral on social media, showing the attacker sitting on a man lying on his stomach and bleeding, and beating him.

“Racism”

Authorities have denounced the role of social media and accused some of inciting anger through the Internet. The media regulator Ofcom warned the platforms by reminding them of their legal obligations.

Police also warned that publishing the addresses of foreign nationals on social media could “constitute a criminal offence”.

Northern Ireland’s Home Secretary Naomi Long blamed those on social media for “instrumentalising the legitimate fear people feel in the face of events”, denouncing the “racism” behind the violence.

The suspected perpetrator of the attack, Hadi Alondid, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, appeared before a judge in Belfast yesterday morning. He was mainly charged with attempted murder, and he refused to be represented by a lawyer and was accompanied by an Arabic-speaking translator.

At the end of the hearing, he remained in custody until his next court appearance, scheduled for July 8.

His motives remain unclear, but police have at this stage ruled out the possibility that this was a terrorist attack.

Paris, Dublin, Belfast

Hadi Allodide, who arrived in Northern Ireland in 2023, had refugee status and a residence permit valid until 2028, according to the Home Office.

He arrived in the UK from Ireland, having previously gone to Paris.

Personalities of Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK or Restore Britain parties, led by Rupert Lowe, have questioned the immigration policies of the Labour government and its Conservative predecessors.

Bloody anti-immigration protests had rocked Northern Ireland mostly in June 2025 and the summer of 2024, as well as other parts of the U.K.

Charges were brought against three people after violence in Glasgow, Scotland, the night before last, Tuesday, in which people were “attacked because of the colour of their skin,” according to police. Worshippers were forced to lock themselves inside the mosque as a security measure.

In Southampton, in south England, a demonstration was held a week ago, during which violence occurred, to denounce the local police’s handling of the December killing of a white student, Henry Novak, by a young Sikh boy.