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A 30-year-old man from Sudan appeared in a Belfast court Wednesday charged with attempted murder over a knife attack that left a victim seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence in several parts of Northern Ireland.
Hadi Alodid, 30, was ordered held in jail after an appearance by video in Belfast Magistrates’ Court, where he was accused of blinding Stephen Ogilvie in his left eye during the stabbing, prosecutors said. He was also charged with threatening to kill a radiographer on the same day and with possessing a knife.
Alodid refused legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said there is no information to suggest the attack is terrorism-related and they are not seeking other suspects.
The family of Ogilvie said they were “completely devastated by the horrific attack on our loved one,” in a statement released Wednesday.
“This has been a massive shock to our whole family, and right now our only priority is being at his bedside and helping him recover,” the famiy said in the statement, which thanked first responders and local residents who intervened after the attack.
The court appearance followed a night of violence in which masked men set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, burned trash bins, torched a Belfast bus and pelted police with objects. Firefighters rescued several people from burning homes.
Residents of a neighbourhood in east Belfast are on edge following anti-immigration riots that ripped through the streets and saw masked protesters set fire to homes and cars on June 9. The violent destruction comes after Northern Ireland Police charged Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese man, with attempted murder after he allegedly attacked another man with a knife. U.K. politicians and police, meanwhile, have urged for calm and vowed to increase police presence in the days to come.
Ogilvie’s family condemned the violence and said the tragedy shouldn’t be “used to divide people or fuel hostility.”
They said they “want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward.
“We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our health care system and hospitality sector and we depend on them to make our country work.”
Residents left shaken
On Wednesday, a CBC News crew saw municipal workers boarding up broken windows, while residents lingered on Lendrick Street in east Belfast, looking at three torched cars and the blackened brick where masked men lobbed firebombs the night before. At least three houses caught on fire on the street.
Video shared on social media showed an angry crowd kicking in doors.
“There were hundreds of fellas dressed in black … angry, loud, asking where foreigners live,” said one woman who was on the street last night because her relatives, including young children, live there. CBC News agreed not to identify her over fears for her safety.
She said in Belfast, a city of just over 300,000, people would likely know members of the raging mob: “Even the police know who most of them are, but most of them last night were 14, 15, 16. Kids shouldn’t be in the middle of that.”
Jon Boutcher, chief constable of the Northern Ireland, promised accountability for those who committed crimes, drawing a comparison in a BBC Radio interview to rioting and violence that took place in the wake of an alleged sexual assault incident last year, in which over 100 people were arrested.
Boutcher said what transpired on Tuesday night was “an insult” to the victim of his family, and those who intervened to “save a man’s life” in the attack the previous evening.
“Those that were involved in the violence, let me say this: We will come and arrest you and we will prosecute you.”
Increased police presence expected
At a subsequent news conference, Boutcher said he has asked for up to 200 additional police officers to help quell any unrest, and they are expected to arrive from across Britain within a day or two.
Anselme Shima, a Belfast resident originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, told the Associated Press he saw smoke from burning vehicles near his home.
“I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbours, but last night was a horrific one,” he said. “We don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next.”
Monday’s attack, caught in graphic video footage that quickly spread on social media, was seized on by anti-immigration activists.
The ensuing street violence erupted despite calls from politicians for calm.
“The scenes in Belfast last night were shocking and completely unacceptable,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X. “There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere. It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it.”
Politicians from both parts of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing government condemned the violence. First Minister Michelle O’Neill of the Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein said it was “thuggery.”
“Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said.
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, of the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said that “taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.”
Defendant had applied for asylum
Protests were encouraged online by far-right activists including Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson. Elon Musk, X founder, also encouraged the protesters on the social media platform.
Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators who “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map” were “weaponizing” the fears of local people.
Police said Alodid entered Northern Ireland from Ireland in 2023, applied for asylum and was given a five-year permit to remain.
Some politicians said the stabbing should spark a review of the open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the U.K., and the Republic of Ireland.
The border is a highly sensitive issue. Allowing the free flow of people back and forth is a major pillar of the peace process that in 1998 largely ended decades of violence known as The Troubles.
Protests related to the Belfast knife attack also occurred in several Scotland cities on Tuesday, as well as in Southampton, England. Southhampton also saw violent protests last week in the wake of the sentencing of a British-born Sikh man convicted of the homicide of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, a British-Polish citizen.