Northern Ireland witnessed a second night of violence with police deploying water cannons against rioters, as the Belfast stabbing attack victim’s relatives said they were “disgusted” by the chaos. Officers came under attack from bricks and petrol bombs hurled by masked rioters in Co Antrim – all of which was live streamed on national television by news channels – in the latest unrest following Monday’s Belfast knife incident.
A Department for Infrastructure vehicle was engulfed in flames as masked gangs clashed with police near the Sandyknowes roundabout in Newtownabbey to the north west of Belfast.
Video footage revealed hundreds of people (mainly men) clad entirely in black and wearing face coverings assembling on Antrim Road, where they could be observed ripping bricks from buildings and smashing paving stones with sledgehammers to fashion missiles to hurl at officers.
Twelve police officers were injured and 16 arrests were made in the second night of unrest in Northern Ireland following the Belfast knife attack, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn has said.
Images from the scene show how gangs tried to torch a derelict building near a petrol station in Newtownabbey, with some lobbing petrol bombs at police cordons. They could also be witnessed seizing wheelie bins from outside houses and setting them ablaze.
In Derry, officers reported objects being set alight on the Ardmore Road. Public transport was halted and some schools finished early in Northern Ireland on Wednesday amid concerns of a second evening of disorder, and there was also reports of violence in Scotland with several arrests made there.
Of the incident that sparked the chaos, Hadi Alodid, 30, appeared in court on Wednesday, charged with attempted murder over Monday’s knife attack in which the victim, Stephen Ogilvie, lost an eye. Mr Ogilvie, who is aged in his 40s, is in a stable condition in hospital in Belfast, his family said. It is understood he is in an induced coma.
Mr Ogilvie’s family urged people to stop sharing “false information on social media” about the attack, adding that they were left “feeling disgusted” by the recent disorder.
In a statement issued by police on Wednesday night, they said: “We want to make it absolutely clear that to do this in response is not supported by our family, and peaceful protest is only ever the way forward. We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including from within our healthcare system and hospitality sector, and we depend on them to make our country work.
“We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility – do not do this in the name of our loved one as we do not share the same values.” The response to the incident witnessed thugs torch properties, a bus and vehicles in Belfast on Tuesday, with individuals targeted because of their ethnicity.
Cabinet Office minister Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent informed the House of Lords that 27 people were rendered homeless on Tuesday night “because people went door-to-door to try and target foreign nationals to burn them out of their homes”. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer pledged to “crack down on anyone who is fuelling this division”.
Alodid was brought before Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday morning, facing charges of attempted murder of Mr Ogilvie, making threats to kill an NHS radiographer and possessing a knife. District Judge Stephen Keown denied bail after hearing police fears that there could be “significant public disorder” if he was freed due to “strong public feeling” surrounding the incident.
The judge cautioned that anyone planning to participate in further unrest in Northern Ireland should “be prepared to go to prison”. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said social media users “highlighting properties” by sharing addresses online or through apps are “putting lives at risk” and may be committing a criminal offence.
“We have received phone calls from a number of families, house owners, neighbours and members of the wider community who are extremely distressed as a result of this reckless activity,” a spokesperson for the PSNI said.