(From our Belfast correspondent)
In recent days, Northern Ireland’s Belfast has been dealing with nothing but an attack, which was only miraculously survived by a 40-year-old man. However, he lost his left eye and his right eye is injured. He also suffered injuries to his neck and back. In response, people took to the streets on Tuesday and Wednesday. The unrest is expected to continue in the coming days.
One of the scenes of the sharpest protests was Lendrick Street, which is located in the east of Belfast. Although the protestors set fire to the cars already late on Tuesday evening, they are still in their places on Thursday afternoon. Right next to houses with burnt facades, burnt doors and smashed windows, which people had to temporarily replace with wooden boards.
“For the last few days, there has been more or less only violence in Belfast. Protests do not make much sense. People are rioting because a Sudanese man killed a man from Belfast. The way of protest, which is supposed to be peaceful, is that they burn the houses and cars of people who have lived here all their lives,” James, about twenty-five, told Novinka.
A while after him, pensioner Chip was walking near the charred cars. “It’s disgusting. Horrible. Unnecessary,” he told the newsroom.
James added that people who participate in the most violent protests probably do not know what they are protesting against. “All the people in Belfast are to blame. They found an excuse to go into the streets and burn cars and houses,” he added. According to James, these people do not solve the essence of the problem, which is immigration. “People just want to be violent,” he concluded, adding that violence in the streets will not solve the problem.
Chip said that only “limited people” are responsible for the current unrest. He reminded that not only migrants but also white people commit violent acts in the United Kingdom. “It seems to be more about racism because there have been a lot of other horrible incidents recently that have been committed by white people. But no one is protesting against them,” says Chip.
Subsequently, a group of teenagers passed through Lendrick Street, next to whom is Martin, who is about 60 years old, who believes that the protesters “have nothing better to do than go out and set things on fire”. He called them “a handful of troublemakers” and “brutal and easily influenced wretches.” “Not only are these people destroying their own streets and houses, they are also depriving themselves of opportunities for themselves and future generations. I strongly condemn this cowardice and incompetence,” he said.
But not everyone agrees that only those who participate in protests are to blame. “Migrants will come here on those boats. And I say we send them back,” said Lucas, standing in front of Lendrick Street with his friends. “It all started here because of this. We have rapes, beatings and stabbings. It all came from them,” he added. According to him, Monday’s attack was “shocking”.
Both Lucas and his friends themselves live near Lendrick Street. “I know a lot of people here. Even a man who lived right here for 13 years,” he says, pointing to the house that was partially burned down. “He did nothing. Absolutely nothing,” he described.
The attack on about 30-year-old Sudanese Hadi Alodid, who was granted asylum in the United Kingdom in 2023, occurred on Monday around 10:30 p.m. local time (11:30 p.m. CET). The video of the attack began to spread quickly on social networks. It shows an African man trying to cut off the head of about 40-year-old Stephen Ogilvie with a knife. He only survived by a miracle.
Although he himself has not yet given evidence, his family said he did not want riots in Belfast. She called for their end and also for stopping the spread of disinformation. “Peaceful protests are the only way forward,” the family said, according to the BBC. She added that she did not want this “terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or to incite enmity”.
Martin also agrees with this, and he took on British politicians because of it. “He must lead by example. He must not escalate the situation,” he believes. He mentioned, for example, extreme right-wing politician Nigel Farage, who, according to him, is trying to take advantage of the situation and gain new voters.
