A 30-year-old man from Sudan appeared in Belfast Magistrates’ Court by video link on Wednesday charged with attempted murder following a stabbing that left a victim seriously injured and sparked a night of anti-migrant violence across parts of Northern Ireland. Hadi Alodid is accused of attacking Stephen Ogilvie in north Belfast on Monday night, blinding him in the left eye during what prosecutors described as a “medieval” assault with a kitchen knife. Police said officers arrived at Kinnaird Avenue to find Alodid straddling the blood-soaked victim on the ground, appearing to gouge his face before residents intervened. One local, Matt McKiernan, struck the suspect with a hurling stick to stop the attack, after which police arrested Alodid. He is also charged with threatening to kill a radiographer while being treated for a hand injury and with possessing a knife in public. Through an Arabic interpreter, Alodid refused legal representation and did not enter a plea. The court ordered him held in custody.
The stabbing, footage of which circulated online, triggered widespread unrest on Tuesday night. Masked men set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, torched bins and a Belfast bus, and pelted police with objects. Firefighters rescued families, including one with a baby, from burning houses, and police took several people to stations for safety. Belfast resident Anselme Shima, originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said smoke from burning vehicles filled his street. “I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbors, but last night was a horrific one,” he said. “We don’t know what to do. I’m scared. Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next.”
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said the violence was not directed solely at ethnic minority communities but caught up families across communities in “vile behavior.” Chief Constable Jon Boutcher told the BBC there was “absolutely no excuse” for the attacks. Political leaders from both sides of Northern Ireland’s power-sharing executive condemned the rioting. First Minister Michelle O’Neill of Sinn Fein called it “thuggery” and “disgusting cowardice” by groups of masked men burning families out of their homes. Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly of the Democratic Unionist Party said “taking frustration at the evil actions of a person out on those who had no part in it is utterly wrong.”
Officials confirmed Alodid had been granted leave to remain in the United Kingdom in 2023 after arriving in Belfast via Dublin, having traveled from Paris after leaving Sudan. The attack prompted renewed political debate about asylum policy and saw businesses in Belfast close early or add security as calls for protests spread online. Alodid is due to face further court proceedings as investigations continue into both the stabbing and the subsequent disorder that left multiple homes damaged and communities shaken.
