Violent unrest swept through Belfast on Tuesday evening after a graphic video of a brutal stabbing attack circulated widely on social media, inflaming anti-immigration sentiment and triggering the worst disorder Northern Ireland has seen in years. Hundreds of mostly masked protesters, mobilised through calls spread across social media by far-right figures, set vehicles and buildings ablaze, blocked roads, and attacked homes in the city. A bus was torched using Molotov cocktails, a partially burning apartment block had to be evacuated, and an African-owned shop was among properties attacked. Police helicopters patrolled overhead as shops closed early and residents fled their homes.
The unrest followed a stabbing on Monday night at around 10:30pm in north Belfast, in which a man in his forties was left with serious wounds to his neck, head, back, face, and eyes. Video of the attack, which showed the suspect pinning the victim to the ground and making slashing movements in what some witnesses described as an apparent attempt at beheading, spread rapidly online. Bystanders eventually intervened, one using a hurling stick — a wooden implement similar to a hockey stick — to stop the assault. Police assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson praised their "heroic" intervention, saying they had saved the victim's life.
A 30-year-old Sudanese man has been charged with attempted murder, possession of a bladed weapon in a public place, and making threats to kill. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday. Police chief constable Jon Boutcher confirmed the suspect arrived in the UK in 2023 via Paris and Dublin, and the Home Office confirmed he held valid leave to remain in the UK until 2028. Police said there was no evidence to suggest the attack was terror-related, and corrected earlier erroneous reports that had identified the suspect as Somali and possibly undocumented.
US tech billionaire Elon Musk amplified the unrest online, retweeting a post by anti-immigration activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — also known as Tommy Robinson — adding: "Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change." Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and other right-wing politicians called for full disclosure of the attacker's immigration history. Northern Ireland's five main party leaders issued a joint statement condemning the original stabbing, while First Minister Michelle O'Neill condemned the riots in equally strong terms. "Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice," she wrote on social media. Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn called the disorder "thuggery" that was "damaging communities and putting innocent lives at risk."
The events come amid a wider climate of tension in Britain, where far-right groups have accused police of applying double standards following the death of a white student in Southampton, southern England, after an altercation with a British Sikh man. Authorities fear a repeat of the riots that struck England and parts of Northern Ireland in the summers of 2024 and 2025, when asylum seekers and minority communities were targeted following high-profile violent crimes. Police across Northern Ireland appealed for calm, urging people not to be "fooled or duped" by voices online intent on stoking disorder.