The police in Northern Ireland have arrested and charged a man with attempted murder after a knife attack in Belfast on Monday night. The episode prompted condemnation from political leaders and calls for restraint amid heightened tensions over violence in the United Kingdom.
The suspect, who the police said is 30 and Sudanese, is accused of having attacked a man in his 40s. The victim is currently in the hospital in serious condition, with injuries to his eyes and slash-wound injuries to his back and face, the police said. The police had originally said that the attacker was believed to be Somali before releasing an updated statement at midday on Tuesday.
They did not identify the suspect or the stabbing victim. He is scheduled to appear in a Belfast court on Wednesday.
Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said in a statement that the police were still working to determine a motive.
“This brutal attack will have sent shock waves through the community, causing real concern,” he said. “I want to reassure the local community that we are treating this attack with the utmost seriousness.”
Later Tuesday, the police said that the suspect remained in custody, that no one else was being sought, and that there was no indication to suggest the attack was terrorism.
Graphic video footage of the attack spread quickly on social media and prompted outrage from some commenters. The clip showed a man mounted on the chest of another whose face and neck are covered in blood. The attacker moves his hands near the neck of victim. A bystander can then be seen approaching the attacker and battering him with a hurley, a long wooden stick used in the Irish sport of hurling.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the knife attack “sickening,” in a post on social media. He said he had “absolutely no tolerance for abhorrent scenes of violence like this on our streets.”
Hilary Benn, the cabinet minister for Northern Ireland, said in Parliament on Tuesday that all sides had the responsibility to urge calm. He cautioned against attempts to use the assault to stir up anti-immigrant sentiment and “seek disorder on the streets of Northern Ireland.”
“I say that because we have seen it before and we do not wish to see it again,” he added.
The police said that the knife attack occurred around 10:30 p.m. on Monday outside an apartment complex in northern Belfast and that officers arrived at the scene within minutes.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Home Office, which oversees immigration and policing, confirmed the suspect was a Sudanese national who had permission to legally reside in the country until 2028. He entered the United Kingdom in 2023 and was granted refugee status the same year, the home office said, adding that the man claimed to have entered via the Common Travel Area.
The Common Travel Area is a longstanding open border between the United Kingdom, which Northern Ireland is part of, and the Republic of Ireland. Officials in Northern Ireland said the man had entered the country after first arriving in Dublin, the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
The knife attack occurred against a backdrop of anxiety over high-profile acts of violence in the United Kingdom. The stabbing of Henry Nowak in the city of Southampton, in southern England, in December fueled outrage and became increasingly politicized online last week after footage was released showing him being handcuffed by the police as he lay dying. The right-wing lawmaker Nigel Farage claimed that the police’s initial response — in which they believed the account given by the attacker, a British-born Sikh man, instead of the victim — was evidence of “anti-white prejudice.”
The day after the footage was released, a night of protest devolved into violence in Southampton.
Despite the calls for restraint on Tuesday, far-right activists posted video of the stabbing attack, using the footage to press anti-immigrant views.
Mr. Farage posted on social media, saying: “The authorities must reveal the identity and status of the attacker immediately. The public are entitled to the truth.”
Local leaders in Northern Ireland issued a joint statement saying that they were “committed to ensuring that violence and hatred in any form will not be allowed to divide our communities.” National leaders pushed back against anonymous calls for anti-immigrant protests.
Michelle O’Neill, the first minister of Northern Ireland, asked residents to give the police “the space and the time they require to carry out a full and thorough investigation.”
“Don’t let other people, who don’t care about here, incite hatred and fear,” she said during a press briefing in the Northern Ireland Assembly. “Don’t allow people who are faceless to orchestrate campaigns on the street.”
Emma Little-Pengelly, the deputy first minister, speaking during the same briefing, called for calm and tried to offer reassurance to the immigrant community.
“Regardless of your race and nationality, you should feel safe,” she added. “My message to our ethnic minority community is very clear — you are valued, you are part of Northern Ireland, and we will do everything we can to protect you.”
The neighborhood where the attack occurred had been a hotbed of the decades-long sectarian violence that gripped Northern Ireland during the Troubles. But in the decades since peace was forged between the mostly Catholic nationalist community and the mostly Protestant unionist community, Belfast and the broader region has become increasingly multicultural.
Mr. Henderson, from the Police Service of Northern Ireland, appealed for calm but also acknowledged “that there are questions regarding the nature of the attack,” alluding to its brutality and speculation online about the identity of the attacker and his possible motives.
“We understand that there is considerable posting on social media,” he added. “People have questions and real concerns. But we would ask that the public are mindful of what they view or share online.”
He also said that the authorities were aware of calls for a protest on Tuesday evening and that there would be an increased police presence across the region. Some local businesses shuttered early, and the Belfast city government closed its buildings early.
By 8 p.m., reports were beginning to emerge of protesters blocking some city roads. On Newtownards Road in east Belfast, a bus was set on fire by a group of protesters, according to local lawmakers and reporters at the scene. Televised footage showed thick black smoke rising from the street. Some evening bus and train services were canceled.
