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Chapter 1: What sparked the violent protests in Belfast?
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It was basically, you know, racist attacks, a form of ethnic cleansing whereby, you know, foreigners are being targeted on the basis of the colour of their skin. Hundreds of boys and men, dark clothing, wearing masks. And yet there's also a strange almost element of a festive atmosphere there, which made it even more sinister.
Chapter 2: What did Rory Carroll witness during the protests?
The Troubles, the history of Northern Ireland, echoes through what we're seeing in some of the very same streets where mobs burned out Catholic families back in 1969.
From The Guardian's Today In Focus, this is The Latest. I'm Nosheen Iqbal. Rory Carroll, you're The Guardian's island correspondent, and you've been reporting from Northern Ireland where we saw violence erupt on the streets of Belfast last night in response to this horrific knife attack on Monday evening.
The suspect, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, Hadi Al-Odeed, has been arrested and charged with attempted murder. The victim, Stephen Ogilvie, has lost his left eye and remains in hospital. I will say at the top that we're not going to be discussing the attack itself. There are reporting restrictions in place to prevent prejudice and criminal proceedings.
Needless to say, a graphic video has been shared online and people took to the streets in rage. Rory, you were out in the city last night. Can you tell me what you saw?
A lot of anger. People felt that they were completely justified to burn buses, cars, to storm the homes of foreigners whom they knew had nothing to do with this dreadful stabbing attack. And yet they felt that this was justice, community justice, because they feel that things have got, you know, you hear the sentiment out of control repeatedly.
And so there was obviously a sense of menace, very sinister when you see hundreds of boys and men, dark clothing, wearing masks and very dramatic circumstance, police helicopters overhead, houses on fire, an acrid smell everywhere, sirens going off. And yet there's also a strange, almost elements of a festive atmosphere there, which made it even more sinister.
You had families coming out with young children coming out to watch what was happening and what was happening. It was basically, you know, racist attacks, a form of ethnic cleansing whereby, you know, foreigners are being targeted on the basis of the colour of their skin. And so this was unfolded across multiple locations in Belfast and also in other parts outside the city.
Well, Rory, you've reported on waves of violence against immigrants in Ireland and Northern Ireland in recent years, from the sustained attack on Deliveroo drivers in 2023, the riots that were triggered by the Southport attack in 2024, and what we saw in Ballymena last year against the Roma community. Would you say it's typically the same minority of people behind the unrest?
Yes, in the sense that it's often usually the worst trouble is in loyalist Protestant working class areas of Belfast. You mentioned Ballymena, you know, and of course, Northern Ireland, so much as sectarian nationalist Catholic areas tend to be less, not so much flashpoints when it comes to anti-immigrant sentiments.
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Chapter 3: What role do social media and public figures play in inciting violence?
And, you know, some said, well, you know, where is safe? They've come from Sudan, southern Sudan, where, you know, they've led war. And so, you know, they kind of just roll with it in a way. But, you know, I think once they're home and hunkering down with their children, you know, it must be just a very difficult situation.
Is there anything about the context of Northern Ireland and the way that people mobilised last night different to the protests we saw in pockets of the UK?
Well, on one level, the scenes here in Northern Ireland are very similar to what unfolds, has unfolded in England. But, of course, the Troubles, the history of Northern Ireland, echoes through what we're seeing this week. In some of the very same streets where houses were burned out last night was where mobs burned out Catholic families back in 1969 at the dawn of the Troubles.
And so, you know, there's kind of a precedent for ethnic cleansing and the purging of the other houses. And also the iconography of the Troubles, you know, masked men, dark clothing out in the streets like that.
Chapter 4: How have past events influenced the current unrest in Northern Ireland?
We saw that so many times in different contexts during the Troubles. So in a sense, there's like these young guys now are almost like cosplaying, you know, these memories of our archival footages that they've seen of the Troubles.
And meanwhile, Stephen Ogilvie's family have called for calm. They've issued this statement stressing the deeply valuable contribution that migrants make. And yet, given the current political climate, it is unsurprising that the focus of debate is again on immigration and that this shocking act of violence is being used by some to justify hostility against all minorities.
Rory, how do you assess what's actually behind the anger, resentment and violence that was just triggered last night?
Well, people here, and this is Catholics and Protestants, and surveys show this, that they often many think that immigrants and especially asylum seekers are not contributing to Northern Ireland society, that they're a drain on the economics.
And because they're given, you know, the sentiment of the narrative is that they are given preferential treatment for housing, that they are given handouts by the state. And so people are resentful of that. And plus that they are imposing, you know, their alien culture. And this is a sort of a rhetoric that is also being reflected by politicians and in some cases more explicitly than others.
And so for a lot of people here, they feel that, you know, they didn't want this. Nobody asked them, nobody consulted them. Do you want to live in a multicultural, multi-ethnic society? Northern Ireland used to be mono-ethnic, it was completely white up until, you know, within almost two generations. And so, you know, people feel, well, we're responding to this.
And how much of that feeling is based on any sort of reality of facts when it comes to housing, when it comes to jobs, when it actually comes to the economic conditions?
Well, at a micro level, clearly the numbers show that immigrants contribute economically to the society, that they contribute more in terms of driving the economy. But at a micro level, if you're in a loyalist housing estate, you don't necessarily see the role, the economic impact of immigrants.
What you do see is that the house down the road that your aunt or your cousin hoped to get doesn't get it because it's a family from Romania or Bulgaria or Sudan. And, you know, so then and the social media is telling you your social media feeds are telling you that these people are, you know, glomming off the states.
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Chapter 5: How do local communities perceive immigrants amidst the violence?
I mean, we saw that last night, may well see it again today. You know, it legitimizes, I mean, the worst behavior, the worst sentiments, right?
And meanwhile, you know, the Prime Minister issued a statement this morning and he said there is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it online or elsewhere. It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it.
And in a similar way to what he said after the Southport attacks, those responsible will feel the full force of the law. Rory, how effective do you think that will be in calming things down?
Well, the police, to their credit, were very effective after the Ballymena riots of last year. There were dozens of arrests after that. And that actually had an impact on the community there. People, I was back in Ballymena after the riots and people were saying, my God, you know, so many teenagers, you know, getting criminal records because of that.
And so I think that's one reason why our job now as journalists become even harder covering these things, because last night people were so, the rioters and their sympathizers were very hostile to anybody, any perceived outsiders taking pictures. You know, you take out your camera, you know, at your peril because they're much more conscious now of the potential policing and being identified.
The policing is a deterrence to some extent, but clearly on the basis of what we saw last night, it's not enough.
Rory, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you, Anishin.
That's it for today. My thanks to Rory Carroll, the Guardian's island correspondent. You can keep up with all of Rory's reporting and live coverage of this story over at theguardian.com. Thanks for listening to this episode of The Latest. Today on Focus, we'll be back in your feeds as usual tomorrow morning, and The Latest will be back tomorrow night.
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