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A knife attack in Northern Ireland horrified onlookers on Monday night, sending a man to hospital in serious condition and raising tensions in the United Kingdom as questions about immigration, policing and online disinformation have been at the forefront of political discourse.
The attack occurred in north Belfast, with a man in his 40s in hospital with what police described as “significant injuries” to his eyes, face and back. Democratic Unionist Party Leader Gavin Robinson described the attack as “medieval” in nature.
“This is a deeply concerning assault and I have declared this a critical incident. We have commenced an investigation to establish a motive,” Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said in a statement.
At a subsequent news conference, Henderson said that those who had rushed to the scene to intervene “undoubtedly” saved a life.
There is no indication that the suspect had accomplices and a terrorist attack is being ruled out at this stage, Henderson said. A kitchen knife was recovered, he said, and the suspect is believed to have lived near the scene of the crime.
Henderson said there would be a heightened police presence in the coming days for public safety and he urged any protests that proceed take place peacefully.
Hundreds of anti-immigrant protesters took to the streets of Belfast on Tuesday, with some setting vehicles on fire.
People wearing masks gathered at points across the city, prompting police to deploy armoured vehicles. A bus was set on fire in east Belfast, television pictures showed. A few dozen protesters blocked Parliament Square in London.
An assistant chief constable with the Police Service of Northern Ireland praised the bravery of members of the public who rushed to aid a man who was ‘seriously injured’ in a knife attack in Belfast. Ryan Henderson said he shares the public’s revulsion at the ‘brutal nature’ of the attack but called for calm, saying the investigation is still underway.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the attack “sickening” in a statement.
“I have absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets,” he said.
First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Féin and leaders from across Northern Ireland’s political spectrum released a joint statement on Tuesday condemning the attack, expressing condolences to the victim and their family, and calling for calm.
“It is essential that the facts are established through proper investigation and due process,” the leaders said.
Farage posts image of attack
The leaders followed the call of Henderson and the police, urging those on social media not to share or repost what has been described as graphic videos or images related to the incident.
“No good will come of sharing it or of turning on each other in this society, including for the clout of online voices who don’t know or care about us and who offer absolutely nothing for the future,” Claire Hanna, leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party, said separately.
The leaders’ statement came after Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage had already done so, reposting an image of a person with their arm raised and kneeling on a street, with blocks over the faces of two persons in the image.
The suspect, a 30-year-old Sudanese national police initially said was Somali, 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.
Police said he had been granted leave to remain in the U.K. in September 2023 after claiming asylum. He travelled to Belfast in February that year by bus from Dublin, having flown there from Paris on an unknown date.
“There is no trace of this suspect on any of our national security databases, and he was not known to the Police Service of Northern Ireland,” Chief Const. Jon Boutcher said.
The North West Migrants Forum, a non-profit charity that helps integrate newcomers in Northern Ireland, said in a statement that it was “horrified” by the incident, while praising bystanders who rushed to help the victim or helped apprehend the attacker.
The organization appealed for calm, with a reference to the decades-long deadly violence between Catholics and Protestants that largely ended with negotiated agreements in 1998.
“The overwhelming majority of people who come through our door desire only to live in peace and to build a life for themselves and their families,” it said. “Northern Ireland knows well the danger of blaming an entire community for the deeds of an individual or small faction.”
Heightened tensions
The attack came ahead of a scheduled speech by British Opposition Leader Kemi Badenoch, where she discussed equalities laws and policing.
The Tory leader called on police to “bring the facts out as quickly as possible so that we can get some clarity” in the Belfast incident.
Badenoch in her speech said she believed that the fear of appearing racist had hampered police action and investigations in other incidents, including in the case of homicide victim Henry Nowak, the killings of three young girls in Southport by a young man with a history of concerning behaviour and years-long reports of sexual abuse by grooming gangs targeting minors.
Downing Street issued a statement pushing back after U.S. Vice-President JD Vance linked the death of 18-year-old Henry Nowak to immigration and what he characterized as civilizational decline in Europe.
The issue of race and policing has come to the fore in recent weeks as more circumstances surrounding the police response to the deadly incident involving the 18-year-old Nowak in December came to light.
Hampshire Police handcuffed Nowak as he lay dying from stab wounds after another man on the scene falsely alleged Nowak had committed a racist attack.
The killer, a British-born Sikh man, was sentenced last week to life in prison, and several people were arrested in a subsequent night of protest that was encouraged by Farage and far-right leader Tommy Robinson.
The Nowak killing aftermath also led to another diplomatic squabble between Britain and the U.S. The State Department, in a social media post about the Nowak killing, said “ideological conditioning and two-tiered policing are glaring symptoms of civilizational decline.”
U.S. Vice-President JD Vance on social media argued that Nowak would be alive “if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants, many of whom despise the West and the people who love it.”
Vance’s comments overlooked the fact that Nowak was a duel citizen of England and Poland, with at least one grandparent born in the eastern European country. They also earned a rebuke from Starmer’s office as well as Secretary of State David Lammy, who said he spoke to the vice-president — with whom he has developed a cordial relationship — after the remarks.
The British government has stressed that Nowak’s family has urged people not to exploit their son’s death for political purposes.
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