In the early hours of Monday (June 8), a Sudanese man who had previously sought asylum and been granted refugee status in the UK was reported to have carried out a knife attack on the streets of Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, leaving one person severely injured. This incident sparked anti-immigrant protests in various parts of Northern Ireland and the UK, some of which escalated into violent clashes.
On Wednesday (June 10), the suspect, 30-year-old Sudanese national Hadi Alodid, appeared in court for the first time via video link at Belfast Magistrates’ Court. During the hearing, it was revealed that the victim, Stephen Ogilvy, in his 40s, suffered blindness in his left eye, damage to his right eye, knife wounds on his neck and back, as well as severe facial lacerations.
The attack occurred on Monday night, during which several passersby intervened to stop the violence and restrain the suspect until the police arrived on the scene.
Following the incident, UK Prime Minister Stamer described the attack as “sickening” and emphasized that street violence is intolerable. Northern Irish authorities confirmed that it was not a terrorism-related event but classified it as a “significant incident”.
Alodid entered Ireland in 2023 through Paris, France, and subsequently traveled to Northern Ireland, where he applied for asylum in Belfast. He was granted a five-year residency permit in the UK in the same year and was in a legal resident status at the time of the incident.
After the news of the attack spread widely on social media, protests began in Belfast on Tuesday night, escalating into riots and arson in some areas, causing damage to residential and commercial properties. The police then deployed armored vehicles and riot police to establish cordons in multiple areas to control the situation, leading to prolonged stand-offs and road closures in some streets.
This wave of protests even spread to other parts of the UK, with small-scale protests occurring in London and cities in Scotland such as Edinburgh and Glasgow.
As the identity of the suspect and the court proceedings were disclosed, the case triggered widespread discussions surrounding UK immigration policies, asylum systems, and public safety.