Zürcher Nachrichten - 'Racist thuggery' slammed after second N.Ireland night of disorder

The latest clashes with police came hours after a Sudanese man appeared in court charged with attempted murder over Monday night's knife attack.

The incident was caught on video and went viral as it ricocheted across social media platforms, triggering anger.

Twelve officers were also injured in Wednesday's unrest, the UK government's Northern Ireland minister Hilary Benn told Sky News.

Dozens of masked protesters clashed with riot police into the night, with rioters setting fire to a car and boarded-up property, AFP journalists saw.

Projectiles, including petrol bombs and bricks, were hurled as riot police used water cannon to push back dozens of rioters trying to reach a hotel which had been used to house asylum seekers.

Benn said the scale of unrest on Wednesday evening was "a lot less than the terrible events that we witnessed on Tuesday night".

But he told Sky News it was "really important to convey the sense of fear that has been created, above all for those who were intimidated, burned out of their houses by masked thugs on the basis of the colour of their skin".

A nurse was "chased and intimidated" as she travelled to work at Ulster Hospital near Belfast on Wednesday, the body that runs the hospital said.

She "bravely insisted" on doing her shift "in stark contrast to the behaviour of the people who terrified her as she tried to do her job", it added in a statement.

The biggest and main mosque in Northern Ireland also had to be shut for the first time in its history on Tuesday, chairman Mohammed Arshed said.

- Social media -

Two people were charged in connection with the unrest and will appear in court later Thursday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland said.

The justice system stood "ready to give long sentences to those bringing disorder to our streets", said Ryan Henderson, the force's assistant chief constable.

UK authorities blamed far-right activists for stoking anger on social media following Monday's knife attack.

Sudanese national Hadi Alodid, 30, was remanded in custody by Belfast magistrates, charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie. The case was adjourned to July 8.

The images of the attack spread within the hour on social networks after being posted on X by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon -- also known as Tommy Robinson -- and then amplified by X-owner and US tech billionaire Elon Musk.

In the first night of violence in Belfast on Tuesday, masked rioters torched vehicles and buildings and forced families to flee their homes.

Ogilvie's family appealed for calm and warned against using the "terrible tragedy" to "divide people or fuel hostility".

He remains in hospital in a stable condition despite losing an eye.

Tensions were already high across the UK. There were skirmishes in southern England last week over the police handling of the murder of a white student by a British Sikh man.

- 'Influx of migrants' -

Tuesday's unrest mainly flared in Protestant pro-UK unionist areas.

Brendan, a 50-year-old plumber who joined the protests, said "nobody agrees with the violence" as there had been enough during the decades of sectarian fighting over British rule of Northern Ireland, which ended in a 1998 peace deal.

But he supported the protests as "there's nothing going to unite people more than crimes of inhumane acts like butchering people".

He said the protesters were "genuinely concerned ... we have an influx across Europe of migrants".

Immigration is a hot-button issue in both the UK and Ireland, and has helped fuel the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party, led by Nigel Farage.

Both countries have seen frequent anti-immigration protests in recent years, some turning violent.

A.Wyss--NZN