Belfast unrest erupts after stabbing, cars and bus set on fire

Belfast’s streets were overtaken by violence after a stabbing that left a man in his 40s in serious condition and triggered a night of arson, evacuations and disorder across the city. A Glider bus was set alight in east Belfast, homes and cars burned in several districts, and families were forced from their houses as tensions that began with one attack spilled into the open.

Police charged a Sudanese man in his 30s with attempted murder, possession of a knife in a public place and making threats to kill over the stabbing on the previous night. The victim suffered wounds to his eye, face and back. Within hours, graphic video of the attack had spread online, helping to fuel calls for anti-immigration protests and drawing several hundred masked demonstrators into Belfast’s streets.

The fire service was pushed to its limit. Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service said it received 256 calls and attended 62 incidents between 7pm and midnight, with an extra 21 fire appliances brought in across Greater Belfast to cope with demand. A building near the city centre caught fire and residents were evacuated, while shops closed early and police helicopters patrolled overhead.

The damage was widespread. Fires broke out on Lendrick Street and in the Ligoniel Road area, where residents described homes being destroyed. Bus and train services were suspended after the Glider bus was torched, turning a transport system into another casualty of the unrest. The disorder also spread beyond Belfast, with crowds gathering in Antrim and a police car set alight in Portadown.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill condemned what she called racist intimidation, saying masked men burning families out of their homes was “disgusting cowardice.” Claire Hanna, the Belfast MP for the Social Democratic & Labour Party, said some protesters had gone door to door looking for immigrants, underscoring how quickly online anger had spilled into targeted street violence.

For residents, the night left more than charred wreckage. One man on Lendrick Street said his home was completely destroyed and that he had lost sentimental items belonging to his late father. The accused man is due to appear in Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, June 11, 2026, as authorities confront not just the stabbing but the deeper communal fault lines the unrest exposed.