Disorder in Belfast ‘stoked by those who would struggle to find the city on a map’

Northern Ireland’s justice minister says online ‘bad faith actors’ have incited racism in city after knife attack

The condemnation by Naomi Long came as a UK cabinet minister said that Elon Musk also had a responsibility “not to stoke grievance”. The billionaire owner of X had used his own account to share images of a horrific knife attack in Belfast on Monday and amplified far-right messaging about it.

A cleanup operation was under way in Belfast on Wednesday morning, after violence by mobs of masked men forced children and their families to flee their homes, in some cases in armoured police vehicles.

Rioters set fire to vehicles and properties in Belfast on Tuesday evening, in what were billed as “protests” in response to a stabbing in the city allegedly committed by a 30-year-old Sudanese refugee, who has been charged with attempted murder. He is due to appear at Belfast magistrates court on Wednesday.

Long, the minister of justice of Northern Ireland and leader of the Alliance party, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “bad faith actors” had incited racism in the city. “The first thing to say is all of us were absolutely horrified and terrified in the wake of the brutal attack that took place in Belfast,” she said. “I understand that tensions are high and people are frightened and angry in some cases about what happened.”

She continued: “What distresses and disturbs me is there are those that prior to yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map, who are online, who are sharing incitement and encouragement for people and weaponising the fear that people genuinely have about what happened to try and turn this into some kind of anti-immigration issue or a racist protest.

“Ultimately if you’re driving people from their homes based on the colour of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way – it’s racism.”

Anna Turley, a Cabinet Office minister and chair of the Labour party, also said social media was playing a role in driving the tensions, adding: “I think there are bad faith actors who are sitting often many, many miles away. It’s easy for them to stoke these things up.”

Asked if she was referring to Musk, she told Times Radio: “He’s not living in the kind of communities where we’re seeing this kind of activity. He’s not at risk.

“He has a responsibility; everyone in public and civil life has a responsibility to call for calm and not to stoke grievance or hatred or division or tension that puts vulnerable people and our communities at risk.”

Detectives have said there was no indication that the knife attack was terror-re