Belfast police fire water cannon as stabbing sparks anti-immigrant riots
Masked crowds clash with riot police after a Sudanese man is charged with brutal knife attack.
Police in Northern Ireland deployed water cannons against masked protesters in Belfast for a second consecutive night on Wednesday, as violence erupted over a brutal stabbing. Demonstrators tore bricks from walls, smashed pavements with sledgehammers, and used sections of a dismantled picket fence as cover while hurling rocks, bottles, and bricks at riot police. Small fires were set on the streets, escalating the unrest that followed a knife attack earlier in the week.
Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese national, appeared in Belfast Magistrates' Court via video link, charged with attempted murder. A detective testified that Alodid stabbed Stephen Ogilvie, leaving him blinded in the left eye. He also faced charges of possessing a knife and threatening to kill a radiographer while being treated for a hand injury. Alodid reportedly told hospital staff, “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead,” and said, “I will kill you.” He refused legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea. The court ordered him held in jail.
- Police used water cannons against protesters who set fires and threw bricks in Belfast's second night of unrest.
- Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old Sudanese man, charged with attempted murder after a stabbing that blinded a man in one eye.
- Alodid threatened hospital staff and refused legal representation; anti-immigrant violence continues to roil the city.
Why It Matters
This incident highlights rising anti-immigrant tensions in Northern Ireland, fueled by a high-profile crime, and the challenge of maintaining public order.