'This is not my Belfast - online racist agitators will not weaponise a city in pain'

'This is not my Belfast - online racist agitators will not weaponise a city in pain' While brave bystanders ran to help a stabbing victim, online hate-mongers used the tragedy to spark a race-based pogrom. We cannot let a violent minority destroy Belfast's peace. Families, just trying to get by like you and I, were burnt out of their homes across Belfast last night. A small boy ran from his home as it was engulfed by flames. This is not the Belfast I know and I love. These racist attacks are not representative of my home. But it only takes a minority - a very, very small segment of society - to tear apart what Belfast has fought so hard to maintain: peace. I have seen Belfast go from strife to strength. I'm from North Belfast; I grew up there and went to school just streets away from the attack. I love my home city for its solidarity with oppressed people. Last year, when riots and intimidation broke out across the region, the people of Belfast gathered to protect mosques from thugs. I was one of those people, who stood shoulder to shoulder with those being attacked purely for the colour of their skin. That is my Belfast. But horror swept through these very same streets on June 8th as a man, named locally as Stephen Oglivie, was stabbed by a Sudanese man. Brutal footage of the horrific attack was shared widely on social media. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) say officers were sent to Kinnaird Avenue, Belfast, at approximately 10.30pm on Monday. The PSNI added that the victim was rushed to hospital while another man was arrested and further charged in connection with the incident. On June 10, the Press Association report that a detective told a Belfast court that a man injured in a stabbing attack has lost his left eye. Bystanders, armed with a hurley stick and their own bravery, ran to intervene in a selfless move that has since been commended by police services and politicians alike. What came next is part of a pattern that the UK needs to address urgently. Footage was shared online - on sites like X - and right-wing agitators called for “invaders”, that is to say people of colour, to be removed. These posts were liked thousands of times and viewed many more times. The racism is explicit online, with some right-wing accounts on X calling for immigration changes in response to the attack. Rupert Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth and leader of Restore Britain, tweeted that “millions must go” alongside a picture of the attack, in a post that was then reshared by Elon Musk. The BBC reported that an African family were “put out” of their home and "don’t think they’ll be back", as the windows of the house they lived in for over 20 years were smashed. A two-month-old baby was rescued during the violence in Belfast on Tuesday night, the chief constable of the PSNI has said. Chief Constable Jon Boutcher told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster: “Last night we rescued so many families. Taking families – a baby as young as two months – out of their address to safety, taking them to police stations.” Let me be clear: this is hatred masquerading as concern. Has the UK lost its ability for empathy? With traumatic and shocking incidents, we must always put the victim first. Their recovery, and support for their family, must be at the heart of emotional outpouring. Instead, racist mobs patrolled the streets, stopping cars to ascertain whether the occupants were local. This act is not about the man fighting for his life in hospital. It is not about “protecting the community”. It is fear and anger weaponised to serve the far-right. Speaking to BBC’s Newsnight, Claire Hanna, Belfast MP and leader of the Social Democratic & Labour Party, said: "What you're seeing is a race-based pogrom. We are seeing men going door to door asking to get the foreigners out based exclusively on the colour of their skin." Blaming whole communities for the actions of individuals is inexcusable, but that is exactly what is happening, as racist social media posts whip people into hysteria. Racist thugs took to the streets chanting “get them out” and cheering as they terrorised people of colour in their homes. The chaos was streamed online, on apps like TikTok and X. In one video, masked men break into a terraced house shouting “f*** the foreigners” as the living room goes up in flames. The far-right are on the rise. We can say it until we are blue in the face, but what we need now is to call this what it is. This is the far-right online agitators exploiting a city in pain, and I am angry that it has resulted in violence and widespread fear. In times of deep city-wide shock, we must pull together to rally behind the victim, the victim’s family, and those members of the community who are frightened of reprisal attacks. Belfast has come through the wars - and the city I know and love will not be cowed by violence.