What to know about the stabbing that set off fiery riots in Northern Ireland

By — Brian Melley, Associated Press Brian Melley, Associated Press Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/what-to-know-about-the-stabbing-that-set-off-fiery-riots-in-northern-ireland Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter What to know about the stabbing that set off fiery riots in Northern Ireland World Jun 11, 2026 3:52 PM EDT LONDON (AP) — A savage knife attack on a Northern Ireland street set off two nights of fiery riots stoked by anti-migrant rhetoric. The suspect, a 30-year-old Sudanese man who had claimed asylum in the United Kingdom, has been charged with attempted murder, threatening to kill a second person and carrying a knife. Protests over the attack flared into violence in Belfast and several other areas. Masked men set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, torched a bus and pelted police with rocks and other objects. Educate your inbox Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. The government said more than two dozen people lost their homes and 12 police officers were injured in what Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn on Thursday called "racist thuggery." Here are some things to know about the attack and its aftermath: A video captured the stabbing Hadi Alodid used a kitchen knife to blind Stephen Ogilvie in the left eye and carved deep wounds on his head, face and back, police said. Graphic footage of the stabbing, and the response of passersby who subdued the attacker, spread quickly on social media. As Alodid was being treated for a hand wound, he threatened to kill a radiologist. "I've killed someone, I don't know if they are dead," Alodid told medical staff, according to a detective who spoke in court. Police have not revealed a motive for the attack but said it's not believed to be terrorism. Alodid did not enter a plea during a court appearance Wednesday and was ordered held until his next hearing. Arrest leads to protests and violence Officials aghast at the crime urged protesters to maintain order and civility, but groups dressed in black hoods and masks threw bricks, rocks and stones at police, set fire to trash bins, and burned vehicles and homes. "When the attack happened on Monday night, we knew this would be coming," Twasul Mohammed, a Sudanese refugee who helped families forced from their homes Tuesday, told the BBC. "Everyone is terrified, we are keeping our kids at home." Violence flared again Wednesday, though on a smaller scale. Police blasted water cannons at protesters outside Belfast who hurled bricks, hunks of stone at them that they had torn from garden walls and patios. Two officers in Carrickfergus were injured by fire bombs, police said. Politicians from both parts of Northern Ireland's power-sharing government condemned the violence. Riots have followed other stabbings in the UK The violence was reminiscent of riots that swept England and parts of Norther