Protests Erupt in Belfast After Sudanese Asylum Seeker Charged With Attempted Murder in Knife Attack

Hundreds of anti-immigrant protesters took to the streets of Belfast on Tuesday, with some setting vehicles alight, after police charged a Sudanese man over a knife attack that left one person with serious neck and head wounds. The attack occurred in north Belfast late on Monday evening. Video of the incident spread widely on social media.

Northern Ireland’s Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson declared the incident a “critical incident” and said the victim, a man in his 40s, suffered significant injuries to his eyes and slash wounds to his face and back. A kitchen knife was found at the scene. ” He appealed for calm and the safety of all communities.

Members of the public tried to fight off the attacker before police arrived. Senior officers credited them with saving the victim’s life. The 30-year-old Sudanese suspect was charged on Tuesday evening with attempted murder, possession of an article with blade or point in a public place, and threats to kill.

He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday. K. in September 2023 following an asylum claim. He traveled to Belfast in February 2023 by bus from Dublin after flying there from Paris on an unknown date.

Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said there is no trace of the suspect on any national security databases and he was not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. The attack is not being treated as terrorism. Masked youths gathered at points across Belfast.

Police deployed armored vehicles in response. Protesters set fire to a number of vehicles, including a bus in east Belfast. The BBC reported that a crowd of 100 men kicked in doors and broke windows of homes on a street in east Belfast.

Sky News showed footage of a house on fire. A few dozen protesters blocked Parliament Square in London. Northern Ireland’s main political party leaders jointly condemned the attack as “horrific” and called for calm, saying disturbances would only damage their communities.

The events follow anti-immigrant rioting in Northern Ireland last year amid anger over an alleged sexual assault, and come amid heightened tensions in Britain after the murder of a student who was handcuffed by police as he lay dying from stab wounds after his killer, a Sikh man, falsely alleged a racist attack.