In some parts of Belfast, defending a street or an estate has been a way of life for decades. Like the rest of the UK, issues over housing, community cohesion, and crime have brought tensions over migration to a boiling point. However, in Belfast, anger can quickly escalate into violence, as community leaders desperately try to prevent another cycle of chaos after the horrific knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie. A Sudanese migrant has been accused of repeatedly stabbing Mr Ogilvie in the head and face.
Community Leaders Plead for Peace
Ron McDowell, deputy leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice, pleaded with masked protesters not to plunge the Shankill Road into turmoil. But hours later, houses were ablaze, cars were torched, and people were evacuated to safety by police. Mr McDowell, who took the Daily Express around the Shankill Road, said: “They were saying it’s a line in the sand and ‘send them back’. They don’t want the trouble that immigration is bringing.”
Special Treatment Fuels Resentment
Mr McDowell highlighted a small school in the area that was struggling until migrant families were bussed in from hotels across the city. “The migrant families get uniforms bought for them. This is not the families’ fault. It is the politicians’ fault. There’s a special menu for cultural reasons. There’s a ‘them and us’. People are sick of it,” he said. He added that locals see migrants getting houses in areas where they cannot find housing themselves, leading to a siege mentality. “The Shankill has never truly lost it and it is certainly back now and it’s back with a vengeance. It really is a case of ‘what we have, we hold’.”
Cycle of Violence Feared
When asked about the term traditionally used by military personnel, Mr McDowell said: “These are militant people and they always have been. But they can’t get sucked into a cycle of violence. Then our argument doesn’t win. The situation is being exploited by people in the shadows. I was calling for peaceful protest, and I was basically told ‘peace doesn’t work … peace doesn’t get us anything’.” He expressed devastation over the violence.
Government Response
Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said “law and order will be coming” for those engaged in disorder, adding: “We cannot have citizens of the United Kingdom, residents of Northern Ireland, being put in fear by this kind of mindless thuggery.”
Eyewitness Accounts
Dorothy Evitt, 42, described the chaos on Tuesday night: “She [a woman in a house approached by rioters] is shouting, ‘I’ve got my kids in here, I’m white’. And I was like, what the… People were actually clarifying [that they weren't migrants]. Then we saw the doors going ‘boom, boom, boom’.” Ms Evitt added that rioters told white families they were safe. “They knew exactly where they were going. I could hear people shouting ‘close your doors, you are alright’. I thought they were heading to a road with a lot of HMOs. I didn’t support the violence. But the protests, I was happy. Migration has put such a strain on this area. It’s so bad. So bad. I have an eight-year-old daughter and she’s not allowed to play outside.”
Riots Spread Across Northern Ireland
Riots also broke out elsewhere, including County Antrim, where police used water cannons as officers were pelted with bricks and petrol bombs by balaclava-clad rioters. Pensioner Derek Waters, who has lived on the street for 30 years, said: “It was a normal protest, but it turned violent, it turned nasty. They were rioting down the roundabout, but the police came up to try and prevent them reaching the motorway. They destroyed people’s properties. Then the house opposite got set alight. They broke into it and took the old vehicle from out the back and brought it up onto the road. We saw smoke rising from the building. They ignited that as well. That belongs to the man next door. He’s 91 years old. It’s a good job there was no-one living in it.” His wife, Lorna, added: “We were scared they’d take our car as well. We were really scared as they were quite slow to move them back and we were worried about our house. It was getting very scary. We don’t mind the protesting but not the violence, it’s not on.”
