Topic analysis

Belfast stabbing suspect in court after night of protests

The suspect in the knife attack, a Sudanese man, has been remanded into custody. UK leaders have called for calm after the stabbing sparked anti-immigrant riots in Belfast overnight. A Sudanese man appeared in court in Northern Ireland on Wednesday to face charges of attempted murder, possession of a bladed article in public and threats to kill. The man, who came to the United Kingdom in 2023 as a refugee, is accused of stabbing a man in the neck and head in Belfast earlier this week .  The 30-year-old, who appeared in court via video link, was ordered to be held in jail. He did not enter a plea and refused legal representation. A video of Monday's knife attack went viral on social media, sparking anger in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom . Far-right figures called for anti-immigrant protests in the wake of the stabbing, leading to violent unrest in Belfast on Tuesday night. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Men wearing masks set fire to houses and forced families out of their homes as a wave of violence spread across the city on Tuesday night, ‌Northern Ireland's First ⁠Minister ⁠Michelle O'Neill said. In a statement, O'Neill said, "Groups of ‌masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice." The BBC reported that men were heard shouting "foreigners out" during the riots. On Wednesday, Northern Ireland police chief Jon Boutcher called the riots "a huge act of self-harm by mindless idiots." He said he was looking at deploying a further 200 officers to the streets in the aftermath. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer also condemned the violence, calling it "shocking and unacceptable." "There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere," Starmer said in a statement posted on X. "It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it. Those responsible will feel the full force of the law," he added. Police on Tuesday had urged the public not to resort to violence, after calls from far-right figures for anti-immigration protests. Tech billionaire Elon Musk retweeted a post calling for nationwide anti-migration demonstrations by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — better known as Tommy Robinson. "Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!" Musk added.  On Wednesday afternoon, Britain's media regulator Ofcom warned online platforms of the risk of stirring up violence in relation to the Belfast case. "Ofcom has today written to online service providers operating in the UK about the increased risk of their platforms being used to stir up hatred, provoke violence and commit other offences under UK law, in the context of recent civil unrest in Belfast," the official watchdog said. The family of the victim, who lost an eye in the knife attack, on Wednesday appealed for calm after the riots the previous night. In a statement, the family rejected the unrest and said "peaceful protest is the only way forward." "We have many migrants who make a deeply ​valuable contribution to our country... We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility," the victim's family said.  Anger has been spreading in Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom after a video showing the attack on Monday went viral. A man in his 40s was left with serious wounds to his neck and head. The suspect arrived in the UK in 2023 and has a residence permit valid until 2028, Northern Ireland police chief Jon Boutcher said, adding that the suspect "was not known" to police. In a joint statement, the leaders of Northern Ireland's five largest political parties decried the knife attack, saying "there is no place in our society for this kind of brutality." The stabbing, which Starmer had called "horrific" and "sickening," came after violent street protests in Southampton , southern England, where people demonstrated over how police handled the murder of a young, white student. The student was fatally stabbed by a British Sikh man who had falsely alleged he had been racially abused. Immigration has grown into a controversial topic in the UK, helping far-right parties such as Nigel Farage's Reform UK surge in the polls. Don't let the algorithm hide the news. If you rely on our team for trusted reporting, please take a moment to select us as your Preferred Source on Google by clicking here and hitting the "star" or "preferred" button, so you'll always see our verified news first. Edited by: Natalie Muller