▲ Vehicles and a building set on fire by anti-immigrant protesters burn on Lendrick Street in east Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 9, 2026.
Large-scale violent anti-immigrant protests have erupted on the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, triggered by a brutal stabbing rampage carried out by a Sudanese immigrant, British media reported on June 9, local time.
According to a report by the British daily The Telegraph, shortly after 10:30 p.m. on June 8, a 30-year-old Black man of Sudanese nationality went on a stabbing rampage on Kinnaird Avenue in a residential area of north Belfast, seriously injuring a white man in his 40s.
According to police, the victim sustained severe injuries to his eyes, face, and back, and was rushed to a hospital where he is receiving treatment.
The perpetrator was subdued by citizens passing near the scene and was arrested on the spot by responding police officers.
About an hour after the incident, a video of the crime was shared on the X account of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who has 2 million followers, and quickly went viral.
The video is believed to have been filmed by a passing citizen.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) initially announced that the suspect was Somalian but later corrected it to Sudanese.
According to The Telegraph, PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher explained on June 9 that the suspect entered Belfast, Northern Ireland, by bus in February 2023 from Sudan via Paris, France, and Dublin, Republic of Ireland, and was granted leave to remain in the UK in September of the same year.
The UK Home Office confirmed that the suspect had been granted refugee status and leave to remain until 2028, The Telegraph reported.
The suspect is scheduled to appear at Belfast Magistrates' Court on June 10.
On the morning of June 9, the day after the incident, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labour Party criticized the attack as shocking and sickening violence, and major British political parties also poured out statements of condemnation.
In particular, opposition parties, including the Conservative Party and Reform UK, criticized the immigration authorities for granting leave to remain to the suspect.
Local police said there is currently no indication that the incident is terror-related.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson appealed to citizens to remain calm during a press conference on the afternoon of June 9, saying, "I understand that last night's attempted murder will leave people feeling a range of emotions from fear to anger".
Despite the appeal, large-scale anti-immigrant protests took place across Belfast on the evening of June 9, and police deployed armored vehicles and helicopters to respond to the violent demonstrations.
Broadcast footage and photographs captured scenes of buses, police cars, private cars, grocery stores, trash bins, and houses set on fire.
Sky News footage showed toddlers being carried away by adults to evacuate as houses burned.
According to the BBC, about 100 men kicked in doors and smashed windows of houses.
The incident occurred amid growing tensions in the UK over immigration, policing, and racial issues.
Last week, in Southampton, southern England, protests against an incident in December last year—where Vickrum Digwa (23), a Sikh, stabbed white university student Henry Nowak (18) to death on a street in the city—escalated into violent clashes.
A year ago, anti-immigrant riots, including arson, broke out across Northern Ireland following the arrest of two Romanian teenage boys on suspicion of attempted rape of a schoolgirl in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, located about 170 kilometers north of Dublin.
At the time, 56 people were arrested during two weeks of violent protests, of whom 27 were detained, and 107 police officers were injured.
The two suspects in the case were detained for about five months before being released after the charges were dropped "as new information and evidence came to light."
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.