Police in Northern Ireland have arrested a man as part of an investigation into “alleged vigilante behaviour” against immigrants in east Belfast.
The 37-year-old was arrested on suspicion of assault, theft and causing criminal damage. He was in custody on Monday, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.
East Belfast district commander, superintendent Gavin Kirkpatrick, said vigilante groups were targeting people based on “the colour of their skin” and had no legal “nor moral authority” for their actions.
“The activity of these individuals has been generating fear in the community and it has to stop. They are confronting and intimidating innocent members of the public, largely on the basis of the colour of their skin,” he said.
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“Those involved have neither the legal nor the moral authority to do this. It is the responsibility of the police service to enforce the law in Northern Ireland.”
Additional targeted police patrols have been deployed in east Belfast over the last week to “engage, challenge and monitor” vigilante groups and provide reassurance to the community, Supt Kirkpatrick said.
“We have made one arrest and our investigations are continuing,” he added. “I want to urge anyone who has been a victim of these groups to report it to police. We will robustly deal with any offences brought to us.”
Supt Kirkpatrick said he wanted to be clear that such groups were “not protecting the community from anything”.
“In reality, these groups are frustrating our efforts to provide a policing service to the people of east Belfast by forcing us to redirect our limited resources to monitoring them. I urge everyone involved in this type of activity to stop.”
He appealed to anyone with any information that could assist the investigation to contact the police or report it online at psni.police.uk/makeareport/.
