Amanda Ferguson

And it was something that the first minister was very keen to stress, that she doesn't want the image going out

to the world that the North is a racist place because it's not.

Yeah, you know, that's been a theme for reporters as well online and in the real world too, where they're facing intimidation for simply doing their job.

And a lot of what is being written, you know, as well as the sort of threats of sexual violence or threats of physical violence or just general abuse,

And there's a whole range of misinformation and stuff that it reveals how stupid some of the people involved in this are and just how racist some people are as well.

We can't pretend that there isn't a racist element to this because there definitely is.

You know, as I've been saying for the last two days, my eyes aren't painted on.

I know what I'm looking at and I know what I'm hearing.

Yeah, some anti-immigrant protesters, it's a very generous description for them.

There are some people who have

concerns around housing and around whether society can cope with accepting people from other countries and so on.

But the facts bear out.

Whenever it comes to the North, some people are surprised to learn there are fewer than 3,000 asylum seekers within the North at any time there has ever been a

a government scheme around, you know, maybe Syria or Ukraine, Northern Ireland receives the least number of people.

And also, you know, outwith people who are seeking asylum, which is obviously in horrific circumstances, there are people that are making their homes here in the health service, at universities, in the hospitality industry.

There's people that are making their homes because they've fallen in love with an Irish person.

You know, the same reason that there is an Irish pub in every country in the world is

it's the same reason that people are on the move.

We also, north and south, have left this island because of famine, because of conflict, because of economic opportunity, sometimes even just better weather.

So it just doesn't make sense to me that people would be so hostile towards others who are doing the same thing.