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Belfast rioting highlights the racism that has long been the reality of life in Northern Ireland for minorities

More action needed from North’s politicians than mere words of condemnation as ethnic minority communities left exposed for years

A cafe on the Donegall Road which was set alight following anti-immigration protests: The violence has left many questions, not least for the Police Service of Northern Ireland which has robustly defended its policing operation. Photograph: Jonathan McCambridge/PA Wire
A cafe on the Donegall Road which was set alight following anti-immigration protests: The violence has left many questions, not least for the Police Service of Northern Ireland which has robustly defended its policing operation. Photograph: Jonathan McCambridge/PA Wire
Freya McClements's picture
Freya McClements
Mon Aug 05 2024 - 20:13

When Bashir’s shop in south Belfast was burnt by anti-immigration protesters at the weekend, it was not the first time his premises had been attacked. Or second.

It was the third.

In a powerful interview with BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback on Monday, he described how “literally everything is gone, not a single thing, nothing, water coming from the roof, all the groceries is gone, everything. It was like a disaster, it was like a nightmare.”

Muslim-owned businesses were deliberately targeted, he said: halal shops, Turkish barbers, anything with an Arabic or Muslim-sounding name.

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He despaired, not least of the police response. “Why I should talk to the police, that’s the real question? What the police will do?” he asked. “They’re just going to write a statement, a ridiculous statement.”

[ Protesters from Republic are warned against joining anti-immigrant rallies in Belfast, as NI Assembly is recalled ]

The anti-immigration, anti-Muslim violence of the weekend has captured the headlines, and rightly so but, for all the outrage, this has long been the reality of life in Northern Ireland for Bashir and others from ethnic minorities.

According to investigative journalist Luke Butterly of the Detail, who has previously reported on an increase in hate crimes against ethnic-minority-owned businesses in south Belfast – the North’s most ethnically diverse area – many of the businesses targeted had been attacked before, some multiple times.

“This area has the highest rate of hate crimes in Northern Ireland – few of which are prosecuted,” he said. “Only around 6 per cent of race hate crimes in Northern Ireland end in prosecution, never mind conviction.”

[ Riot police separate protest groups at Belfast demonstration ]

This is the context for the weekend’s violence. Though the scenes were dramatic – the flag-waving far-right rampaging through south Belfast towards the Belfast Islamic Centre (which was protected by riot police) then attacking businesses in Botanic Avenue before being turned back by residents on the Lower Ormeau Road – racism is not new in Northern Ireland.

What was new was the scale – of the violence, the damage and the response.

This was organised on social media – part of the UK-wide disorder following the killing of three girls in Southport, which was falsely blamed on an asylum seeker by social media users – and involved working-class loyalists, nationalists and far-right agitators from outside Belfast.

Tricolours flew alongside union jacks; the four provinces of Ireland were represented, as well as a banner saying “Coolock Says No” in reference to last month’s violence at a site earmarked for asylum seekers in Dublin.

“Irish far-right thugs drank with UDA in a Belfast bar” was the Belfast Telegraph’s front-page story on Monday.

It would have been foolish to assume that the kind of racist, anti-immigrant violence that has been seen elsewhere on these islands would not eventually spread to Northern Ireland. Those on the ground saw it coming; canvassing in south Belfast during the last election, one unionist described immigration as “the number-one issue on the doors” in working-class loyalist areas.

[ Anti-immigrant protest outside Garda Headquarters descends into chaos ]

The weekend’s violence has left many questions, not least for the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which has robustly defended its policing operation.

There are questions, too, for the politicians; while the public condemnation of the violence and rejection of “all forms of Islamophobia, xenophobia and racism” in the Northern Assembly is important, its recall on Thursday must be backed up by action.

It is telling that the wording of the recall motion reveals how little has been done to protect ethnic minority communities; it calls for, among other measures, the finalisation of a draft Refugee Integration Strategy and the bringing forward of a renewed Race Relations Order.

The North’s politicians must face up to racism, just as they must also now face up to what have long been touchstone issues south of the Border – housing and immigration.

For Bashir, the question is whether he will stay in Northern Ireland. “I can’t give you an answer.”