Far-Right Marches Sweep UK Cities After Days of Anti-Immigration Riots in Belfast

Far-right demonstrators marched through cities across Britain on Saturday, clashing with anti-racism protesters and police in scenes that revived memories of last summer's unrest, after days of anti-immigration rioting in Belfast left families burned out of their homes and a community on edge.

The marches unfolded in Brighton, Liverpool, Sheffield and Glasgow, where far-right groups squared off against anti-fascist counter-demonstrators. Several people were arrested as officers worked to keep rival crowds apart. The street mobilizations had been encouraged online by far-right activists in the days after violence erupted in Northern Ireland, despite repeated appeals for calm from political leaders.

The trigger was a knife attack in north Belfast on the evening of June 8. Police said a man identified as a Sudanese asylum seeker stabbed another man, named locally as Stephen Ogilvie, 44, who suffered serious injuries to his eyes, face, neck and back. A suspect, Hadi Alodid, was charged with attempted murder. Within hours, false images and misinformation about the attack spread online, and rioting broke out across the city the following night.

The violence in Belfast was severe. At least three houses, a Middle Eastern supermarket, a Glider bus and numerous vehicles were set ablaze, police said. Rioters went door to door in some neighborhoods attempting to identify homes occupied by immigrants, and a number of families were left homeless after their properties were attacked and burned. Officers deployed water cannons during the worst nights of unrest and vowed a "robust" response to those responsible.

The disorder echoed the riots that swept England in the summer of 2024 after the Southport stabbings, when misinformation about a suspect's background helped fuel days of anti-immigration violence. Community leaders and elected officials warned that the same pattern was repeating itself, with online rumor and far-right organizing turning a single crime into a wave of racially targeted attacks. Anti-racism campaigners responded by mobilizing their own rallies, and on Saturday thousands turned out in Belfast and other cities to condemn the violence.

The unrest has put pressure on authorities in both Northern Ireland and Great Britain to contain the spread of disorder and counter the disinformation driving it. Police forces across the country said they were monitoring social media for calls to violence and would pursue prosecutions. For residents of the Belfast neighborhoods hit hardest, the immediate concern was more basic: rebuilding homes and businesses reduced to charred shells, and restoring a sense of safety to streets that had become, in the words of one resident, "just dystopian."