Key events
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Closing summary
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Belfast knife attack suspect was Sudanese national with leave to remain in UK until 2028, Home Office says
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Elon Musk backs far-right, online calls for protests in response to Belfast stabbing
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PSNI chief urges people not to be ‘fooled or duped’ by voices online ‘inciting hatred’ and encouraging ‘awful behaviour’
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PSNI chief urges people not to let those ‘who know nothing about Northern Ireland’ stir up disorder via social media
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Belfast knife attack suspect arrived in Belfast from Dublin in 2023 and claimed asylum, chief constable says
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Leave to remain handed out by Home Office ‘like Smarties’, Farage claims
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Rhun ap Iorwerth says Plaid will work with Greens to stop Wales being last nation in Britain allowing no-fault evictions
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Badenoch accused of ‘not being honest’ about impact of axing public sector equality duty
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Northern Ireland party leaders release joint statement condemning Belfast knife attack
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PSNI appeals for calm, amid fears protests planned in response to knife attack could lead to disorder
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PSNI says it understands knife suspect had been given leave to remain in UK
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PSNI says no evidence to suggest Belfast knife attack terror-related
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PSNI says Sudanese suspect in Belfast knife attacked entered UK from Dublin
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Reform UK would lead ‘most pro-women government in British history’, Suella Braverman claims
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TUC accuses Badenoch of wanting to ‘legalise discrimination’ with her Equality Act overhaul
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White House urges UK not to ban social media for under-16s
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Benn says Belfast attack should not lead to members from accused’s community being attacked
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Benn says initial report about nationality of accused now seems to be wrong
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Benn challenges TUV MP Jim Allister over his claim ‘alien culture’ factor in attack
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Benn declines to comment on identity or immigration status of suspect in Belfast attack
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DUP leader Gavin Robinson says accused was in Belfast on visa and must be ‘convicted and deported’
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Hilary Benn urges calm in statement to MPs about ‘horrific’ attack in Belfast, and asks people not to repost video footage
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Badenoch says her thinking about identity politics partly influenced by having mixed-race children
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Badenoch says she agrees with Idris Elba having ‘woke James Bond would ‘ruin entire franchise’
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Badenoch says identity-based staff networks in police, and public organisations, should not have say over policy
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Badenoch accuses police leaders of wrongly accepted their officers institutionally racist
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Badenoch claims public sector equality duty ‘creating inequality of outcomes’
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Badenoch says public service workers do not need equality law to get them to treat people fairly
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Badenoch dismisses claims savings from getting rid of public sector equality duty would be minimal
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Badenoch says fear of being accused of racism is leading to authorities not intervening early to prevent crime
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Badenoch says she is opposed to people being treated differently on basis of identity groups
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Badenoch claims police who arrested Henry Nowak influenced by guidance saying hate crimes should be treated as priority
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Unions rebuff Farage and say Reform ‘cosplaying’ as workers’ champions
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Starmer condemns ‘horrific’ attack in Belfast, as Tories and Reform UK ask for ‘facts’ about accused to be disclosed
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Why Badenoch says she wants to get rid of public sector equality duty
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What is the public sector equality duty?
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Reform UK defends its town hall Ukrainian flag bans in response to criticism from Zelenskyy
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Labour accuses Badenoch of wanting to ‘turn clock back’ with plan to scrap public sector equality duty
Closing summary
Thank you for following our live coverage of events in Belfast, where protests erupted on Tuesday after a stabbing incident on Monday.
Here is a quick wrap up of the latest:
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Anti-immigration protesters torched buildings and vehicles in Belfast on Tuesday evening and blocked roads, a day after a stabbing allegedly by a Sudanese refugee, captured in a graphic video that shocked the country.
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British prime minister Keir Starmer described the attack, which took place in north Belfast late on Monday evening, as “sickening”. Video of the incident was shared widely on social media.
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Police charged a Sudanese man late Monday over a knife attack that left one person with serious neck and head wounds. The suspect, whose name has not been released, was with attempted murder, possession of a bladed weapon in a public place and making threats to kill. The 30-year-old man is due to appear in court on Wednesday.
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Michelle O’Neill, the first minister of Northern Ireland, slammed the protests and urged calm. “Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice,” she said on X. “Racism, intimidation and violence are wrong wherever they occur. There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight. No one wants to see this on our streets and I again appeal for calm”.
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The leaders of Northern Ireland’s five main political parties issued a joint statement condemning the incident, saying “there is no place in our society for this kind of brutality”.
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US tech billionaire Elon Musk had earlier retweeted a post by anti-immigration activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – also known as Tommy Robinson – adding: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!”.
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As anti-immigration figures, including Reform party leader Nigel Farage and Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe, demanded details about the attacker, the interior ministry confirmed he was a Sudanese refugee with a residence permit valid until 2028. Northern Ireland police chief Jon Boutcher said he had arrived in the UK in 2023 via Paris and Dublin.
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Tensions were already high in Britain after violent skirmishes last week in Southampton, southern England, over the police handling of the murder of a young white student stabbed to death by a British Sikh man.
On a residential street draped in loyalist flags near Belfast’s Shankill Road, the masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside.
As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed the front door and broke it down. With the air thick with smoke from fireworks, they attacked the downstairs windows with bricks.
As they stormed the property, some claimed to be “liberating” it. Graffiti nearby demanded “local homes for local people”. A woman in the crowd said to her friend: “There’s wee girls inside.”
Read the full text of this compelling dispatch below:
Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly has also weighed in, saying:
Taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.
While Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said:
“The scenes of disorder we have witnessed in some parts of Northern Ireland this evening are only damaging communities and putting innocent lives at risk. There is no justification at all for this type of destruction and thuggery.”
Responding to the unrest in Belfast on Tuesday evening, Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson said:
Sporadic pockets of disorder have broken out in a number of locations across Northern Ireland this evening, including incidents in which a number of vehicles have been set on fire. We are urging everyone to remain calm, act responsibly, and avoid any activity that could place themselves or others at risk.
Officers are on the ground, working alongside partner agencies, responding to incidents as they arise and helping to keep people safe. We are again appealing for calm and ask all voices of influence within local communities to encourage peaceful protest and discourage any involvement in violence or disorder.”
A man is set to appear in court charged with attempted murder over a stabbing attack following a night of violence in Belfast.
The 30-year-old accused, who is Sudanese, is also charged with possession of an article with a blade or point in a public place and making threats to kill.
He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court later on Wednesday.
Immigrant communities in Belfast have expressed fear that they could be targeted, following the attack.
As the Guardian reports, Sudanese business owners on Sandy Row, a loyalist area of central Belfast, closed their stores with steel shutters by 4pm and said they planned to stay at home that night.
The Belfast Islamic Centre cancelled evening prayers. Ameer Ibrahim, a project manager who spoke in a personal capacity said:
We are telling our congregation to go home, don’t go out, look after your children, don’t share rumours and do listen to the authorities.”
Some new images from the ground in Belfast, where teams are working to extinguish the fires set during demonstrations in response to Monday night’s stabbing attack in the city.
North Belfast MP John Finucane described the violence from the protests as “despicable” and unacceptable.
“The scenes we are seeing this evening are shameful and there is no place for it on our streets.
“Family homes and businesses attacked, cars and buses burned out, and parts of our community in flames.”
Hannah Al-Othman
Later, on the Shankill road, two phone shops had been looted, and an African shop had been set on fire, with smoke spilling into the street and fire engines stationed outside as a few stragglers braved the rain to watch the fire fighters tackle the flames.
Northern Ireland’s first minister Michelle O’Neill described scenes of violence in Belfast as “outright thuggery”.
In a social media post, O’Neill said: “Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice.
“This has nothing to do with community. This is outright thuggery.
“The attack in North Belfast was heinous and wrong.
“But there are dangerous attempts to exploit that to target and attack innocent people who are simply trying to live, work and raise their families here.
“Racism, intimidation and violence are wrong wherever they occur.
“There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight.
“No one wants to see this on our streets and I again appeal for calm.”
Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn condemned the “thuggery” seen in some areas on Tuesday evening in response to the Belfast stabbing attack.
He said on X: “People have been rightly shocked by the brutal attack in north Belfast, but the police must be allowed to do their job so the law can take its course.
“The scenes of disorder we have witnessed in some parts of Northern Ireland this evening are only damaging communities and putting innocent lives at risk.
“There is no justification at all for this type of thuggery. I echo the call from the PSNI for this violence to end now.”
Hannah Al-Othman
By around 11pm, heavy rain started to fall over Belfast, and the crowds that had gathered began to disperse more quickly, leaving the burning wreckage of vehicles and street furniture behind them.
