UK leaders call for calm as protests break out after Belfast street stabbing

UK leaders call for calm after the arrest of a Sudanese man accused of trying to kill a man in a vicious stabbing on a Belfast street sparks fiery anti-immigration protests because the suspect is an asylum-seeker.

The victim, a man in his 40s, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries to his eyes, face and back after he was attacked late Monday in north Belfast in Northern Ireland, police say.

The suspect, 30, who is not named, is held in custody and charged with attempted murder, possession of a knife in a public place and making threats to kill. A kitchen knife was found at the scene.

Police are trying to determine the motive, but there is no information to suggest the attack caught on video was terrorism-related, says Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. He adds that police are not seeking other suspects.

“This brutal attack will have sent shock waves through the community, causing real concern,” he says.

Northern Ireland’s leaders and chief constable urge people not to incite hate and fear or target particular communities after reports that protests were planned.

Protesters in black hoodies, some wearing masks, torch a bus in east Belfast, and cars and trash bins are set ablaze as groups gathered in other parts of the city.

At the other end of the UK, demonstrators march in Southampton, England, where the recent sentencing of a man who killed a university student with a knife led to violent clashes with police last week.

Although the victim and convicted killer were both British, protesters stood outside a Southampton hotel that had housed asylum seekers, holding signs that said “Illegal Migration Is Destroying Our Civilisation.”

Northern Ireland’s chief constable Jon Boutcher tells reporters that the suspect was living in the UK under a five-year visa granted in September 2023. The suspect was not known to Northern Irish police, he adds.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemns the attack as “sickening” and says that he had “no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets.”

His office says “it is time for calm,” adding, “it’s important that police have the time and space to investigate appropriately.”