Belfast migrants hide after anti-immigrant riots target homes and businesses

Sunflower seeds and burnt tins of ghee spilled from the charred front of a Belfast grocery store as ethnic minority families across the city went into hiding after anti-immigrant attacks tore through homes, vehicles and businesses. The damaged shop, owned by a migrant family, became a blunt measure of how the violence moved from street disorder into economic intimidation, leaving residents weighing whether to keep their doors shut, their routines private and their movements out of sight. Mohammad told AFP, “It’s become really bad in the last two to three years.”

The unrest followed a knife attack on June 8 in north Belfast that left Stephen Ogilvie seriously injured and led police to declare a critical incident. Police identified the suspect as Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese national. Ogilvie’s family later appealed for calm and said they did not want the tragedy used to divide people or fuel hostility. Police said the disorder spread after video of the stabbing circulated online, and on a second night officers deployed water cannon and armored vehicles as masked men burned cars, houses and a city bus.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it had opened a Public Order Enquiry Team and was reviewing video and online footage for further arrests. On June 10, police charged a 42-year-old man with riot, attempted criminal damage and assault on a police-designated person. The force also said it was investigating a racially motivated arson attack in north Belfast on June 6, when an old Gospel Hall on the Shankill Road was deliberately set on fire from the roof and totally gutted.

Political leaders framed the violence as racially motivated and aimed at people because of their background, not as ordinary public disorder. Naomi Long said there was “no place in society” for the attack and urged people not to share footage of it. Michelle O’Neill called the men burning families out of their homes “disgusting cowardice,” while Keir Starmer said the scenes were completely unacceptable. On June 11, the Northern Ireland Executive condemned the disorder, violence and intimidation as racially motivated, underscoring a wider public-order crisis that has pushed migrants and minorities into the shadows of neighborhoods where they once moved openly.