UK leaders call for calm as protests break out after Belfast street
stabbing
[June 10, 2026]
By SYLVIA HUI
LONDON (AP) — U.K. leaders called for calm Tuesday after the arrest of a
Sudanese man accused of trying to kill a man in a vicious stabbing on a
Belfast street sparked fiery anti-immigration protests because the
suspect is an asylum seeker.
The victim, a man in his 40s, was taken to the hospital with serious
injuries to his eyes, face and back after he was attacked late Monday in
north Belfast in Northern Ireland, police said.
The suspect, 30, who was not named, was held in custody and charged with
attempted murder, possession of a knife in a public place and making
threats to kill. A kitchen knife was found at the scene.
Police were trying to determine the motive, but there was no information
to suggest the attack caught on video was terrorism-related, said Ryan
Henderson, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern
Ireland. He added that police were not seeking other suspects.
“This brutal attack will have sent shock waves through the community,
causing real concern,” he said.
Northern Ireland’s leaders and chief constable urged people not to
incite hate and fear or target particular communities after reports that
protests were planned.
Protesters in black hoodies, some wearing masks, torched a bus in east
Belfast, and cars and trash bins were set ablaze as groups gathered in
other parts of the city.
At the other end of the U.K., demonstrators marched in Southampton,
England, where the recent sentencing of a man who killed a university
student with a knife led to violent clashes with police last week.
Although the victim and convicted killer were both British, protesters
stood outside a Southampton hotel that had housed asylum seekers,
holding signs that said “Illegal Migration Is Destroying Our
Civilisation."
The Belfast attack sparked immediate questions about the suspect's
immigration status, including from some politicians. Gavin Robinson, the
leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, urged authorities to curb
“uncontrolled immigration.”
Northern Ireland's chief constable Jon Boutcher told reporters that the
suspect was living in the U.K. under a five-year visa granted in
September 2023. Boutcher said he was believed to have traveled from
Sudan to Paris and Dublin before claiming asylum in Belfast.
The suspect was not known to Northern Irish police, he added.
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Demonstrators march along Portswood Road in Southampton, England, on
Tuesday, June 9, 2026, during an Enough is Enough protest, after a
man from Sudan was arrested over a knife attack in Belfast. (Andrew
Matthews/PA via AP)
When pressed on the question in Parliament, Northern Ireland
Secretary Hilary Benn said he could not confirm whether the alleged
attacker came to the U.K. illegally.
Starmer condemned the attack as “sickening" and said that he had “no
tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our
streets.”
His office said “it is time for calm," adding “it’s important that
police have the time and space to investigate appropriately."
Police and senior politicians urged people not to share the graphic
images of the attack that were circulating online, or to spread
disinformation about the situation.
Last week a separate case of a university student who was stabbed to
death in Southampton, England in December was seized on by activists
and U.S. Vice President JD Vance who blamed immigration for the
violence.
Henry Nowak, who was white, was killed by Vickrum Digwa, a Sikh who
falsely claimed to police that he was the victim of a racist assault
by Nowak. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the
wounded Nowak as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to
resuscitate him.
Digwa was convicted of murder for stabbing Nowak with a Sikh dagger
and sentenced last week to life in prison with a minimum 21-year
term. But the case has spurred heated debates about policing and
race, and a protest over Nowak's death turned violent with some
attacking police with chairs and rocks. Several people were charged
with violent disorder over the protest.
—-
Brian Melley contributed.
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