Addresses of immigrants shared online after knife attack sparked Belfast unrest

A list of more than two dozen addresses believed to belong to immigrants and their families circulated on closed social media networks during two nights of anti-immigration unrest in Belfast this week. CBS News learned Thursday that the list was shared among people calling for mass protests.

A copy obtained by the network included addresses in Belfast and was distributed on platforms such as WhatsApp.

The unrest began after a knife attack Monday in which a 30-year-old Sudanese man, who had claimed asylum in the United Kingdom and received a five-year visa in 2023, was charged with attempted murder, threatening to kill, and carrying a knife. Police said the suspect used a kitchen knife; the victim was blinded in the left eye and suffered deep wounds to the head, face and back.

Civilians intervened before officers arrived and were credited with saving the man’s life.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said no motive has been established and the attack is not believed to be terrorism. Groups of often-masked rioters set fire to homes, a bus and trash cans, threw rocks at police and blocked roads on June 9 and 10. Vehicles burned on Lendrick Street in east Belfast and a house caught fire on Ligoniel Road.

The chief executives of Northern Ireland’s Health and Social Care service said Wednesday that some international staff felt intimidated and “too frightened to come to work” after a nurse heading to Ulster Hospital was chased by masked men. K. ” The Belfast events followed separate anti-immigration protests in Southampton on June 2 after the conviction of Vickrum Digwa for the December murder of college student Henry Nowak.