Belfast attack

[Greenwitchart]

I can see that the previous thread on the topic is full so I am starting a new one to continue the discussion.

The points I wanted to say as someone who immigrated to the UK over 30 years ago:

• This is a horrific attack and everyone's thoughts should be with the victim and his loved one.

• However, I do think that we have an issue with some people getting into the country whether legally or illegally who simply don't have the same values as the majority of the population and are not able to follow its laws and customs.

• The asylum and immigration system needs a serious overall and to do more to stop men who are a potential danger to society because of their beliefs/culture/failure to integrate getting through the system and ending up committing violent acts. Some people destroy their documents and checks can only go so far when it is hard to verify claims and the chaotic countries they come from does not have reliable records that can be accessed . There are many peaceful and genuine asylum seekers who just want a safe place to live in peace but we seem to be getting in too many angry, violent men who abuse the system and that has to stop.

• I don't want to share the streets with people who have no respect for women and girls, are religious fanatics to the point of extremism or show hate towards gay people and bring violence in general.

• Having people from different cultures coming in is fine as long as they integrate well and take on the values of the country they live in. It does not work if they just live parallel lives and fail to follow the law of the land.

A third country - the Rwanda plan. If people know they will be sent to Rwanda they will stop coming- unless they see Rwanda as a more attractive place to live than France.

Wonder how many people would decide they were not that fearful of home once Europe was off the table?

Quote:
"To be honest, as someone who works in this sector its worrying to hear that a policeman doesn't understand the nuance of migration and violence given that some asylum seekers will be violent as a direct result of severe ptsd,"......

So the policeman should be feeling sympathy for the perp?

I think most of us will save our sympathy for the victim.

Yes a lot of the world is a shit hole and we cannot rescue them all.

We are a country of 70 million people. There are 52 million people in Sudan alone with probably a fair few of them having a shit time. We cannot rescue the world. They are going to have to rescue themselves.

Farage said it was a benefit to be able to get people from the Commonwealth countries rather than the EU. To be able to also recruit from the world not just the EU. It was laid out essentially by both sides what would happen.

Definitely - been on a counter protest to a very small protest locally - so nothing like Belfast. However, I heard not one thing from the protestors about the abhorrent attack - just the regular ‘pedos’ and ‘save our women’ slogans - almost like they didn’t really know why they were there - excuse for a few tinnies and a fight though.

This was obviously nothing at all compared to Belfast, but the similarity is that it’s just an excuse. Not helped by people whipping hatred up online.

Thoughts with anyone in Belfast.

Do you realise that the majority of people seeking asylum and refugees don't go to Europe? 66% of refugees stay as close to their home country as possible and settle in a border country.

So the ones that are leaving to risk their lives in a small boat, to pay a small fortune to be trafficked and abused on the way - they're going to do whatever they can to get to a safe country.

And while some people may consider Europe safe, conditions for people seeking asylum and refugees are incredibly hostile in some other eu countries and funnily enough people aren't content with living in mass refugee centres. I wouldn't be either so I can't blame them.

So the Rwanda plan is never going to work.

"So the policeman should be feeling sympathy for the perp? I think most of us will save our sympathy for the victim"

I think most people can understand that there are individuals who carry out violent crimes as a direct result of their own vulnerabilities or illness. That doesn't exclude you from being able to feel sympathy for a victim of a violent crime. I'm not speculating as to the attack yesterday because we don't have the information to do that yet, but I mean in general. If police can't understand the link between trauma/ mental illness and violent crime then they absolutely are not doing their jobs properly. They get enough training that they should be able to understand it.

I'm not sure why you think we'd need to rescue all of Sudan. We only need to provide asylum for the most vulnerable who met the remit for asylum protection. Most people in Sudan or countries with similar difficulties will never have the means to leave or will go to a neighbouring country. Not to mention that we share responsibility with all the other countries in the world. We take in a very small percentage of the world's refugees. Even if our media likes to present it very differently.

They're racist fascist thugs. Anything for a fight. Same people whose dad's were killing people because they were Catholics. They're tragic human beings taking out their impotence on innocent people.

Absolutely community legacy of violence and inter generational trauma just continuing.

Fascist, racist thugs?

Simplistic to say.

They've probably had deprived childhoods, are fairly disaffected and had little opportunity in life, that's true.

Probably aren't going back to a comfortable detached house in Stow on the Wold every night, having cruised through a lovely childhood with two engaged, living parents who gave them every opportunity in life.

But yeah. Fascist, racist thugs.

Its awful happened close to where i live i moved to belfast 20 years ago and this one if the worst attscks ive heard of the guy who was attacked was from scotland lived in thecestate i live in for a while then moved to kinnsird avenue the attacket moved there into a flat next to him the scottish guy helped him and apparently people on sm say he asked the attacker to turn down music then he did this to him though its also states the victim is hard of hearing so not sure that makes sense either way the manner of the attak was horrific .the guy who beat him off with a hurely stick is a hero the victim in his 40s is in hospital critcal but may survive there are riots around ni tonight to get immagrants out itd not great but people are scared and fed up i fear for my kids and others and the future if something isnt done something worse could happen schools were threatned with an attack a few weeks ago and guys were in the local park chanting with so called cermonial knives families were there police called knives were confiscated but no arrests crazy doesnt bear thinking about what they were planning

Matthew is not an immigrant!

An Irishman rescued the victim

Let's not spread false information now

Wonder why anyone thought the family in this house had anything to do with yesterdays attack

The Guardian
‘ There’s wee girls inside’: panic as masked men storm house in Belfast
Protests across the city turned violent on Tuesday night – with some police officers acting as if it wasn’t safe to intervene

Hannah Al-Othman and Rory Carroll
Tue 9 Jun 2026 22.31 BST

On a residential street draped in loyalist flags near Belfast’s Shankill Road, the masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside.

As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed the front door and broke it down. With the air thick with smoke from fireworks, they attacked the downstairs windows with bricks.

As they stormed the property, some claimed to be “liberating” it. Graffiti nearby demanded “local homes for local people”. A woman in the crowd said to her friend: “There’s wee girls inside.”
Nearby, a car was set on fire. As the chaos unfolded, a man in a skull face mask told people to put their phones away. Helicopters circled overhead, and two police officers looked on from their car as smoke billowed towards the sky – but appeared to conclude that it was not safe to intervene.’

Are you really this ignorant? What language do you think that name is? An irish person living in northern Ireland is not an immigrant.

Hahahaha that’s hilarious!!
Taken from Wikipedia…..
”The surname McKiernan (Irish: Mág Tighearnán ), is of Irish origin and is found predominantly in County Cavan where it originated. The Irish name is Mág Tighearnán meaning the Son of Tighearnán.”

Nice try but ridiculous own goal 😂

Well said.

I couldn’t get to the end of this thread because it just makes me so sad. Of course we have a massive problem with uncontrolled immigration and people are rightly furious about that. People are rightly shocked and appalled by what happened in Belfast.

But how quickly it becomes ‘Sudan is a backwards country’ , none of them should be allowed in etc etc.

My husband is Sudanese. My daughter is half Sudanese. A huge number of the fighters in the civil war are not even Sudanese, they’re drafted in from other parts of Africa and told to fight with the promise they can rape and pillage whatever and whoever they can find. Sudan is suffering. The people that are saying this - I bet you don’t know a fucking thing about Sudan or have met Sudanese people.

This isn’t a binary option - you can be outraged about uncontrolled and unchecked immigration and what it’s doing to our country without being an ignorant racist.

Ah the racist word again! People ARE being angry on here without being racist! Stop throwing the word around, you’re making it lose its meaning! People are sick of others shouting them down, trying to shut down debates and being gaslighted by people like you who throw the racist word around. It doesn’t work anymore. If you feel it’s a somehow a personal attack on your husband and daughter - it isn’t! Get a grip!

Yes I’m using the racist word because that’s the descriptive word for what it is! Sudan is a backwards country, these people all have poor values blah blah blah…

I’m not gaslighting or minimising anything, I will say it again - it’s possible to be outraged about immigration without personal attacks on people you know nothing about!

The man who attempted to behead another man IS Sudanese according to the media. It’s a fact, not a personal attack on your husband and daughter, love! it’s hardly the people’s fault on this thread that the attacker happened to be Sudanese!
Nobody has said they want rid of law abiding legal migrants now have they! Stop imagining stuff that people haven’t said and stop throwing the word “racist” about like it’s a standard word ti describe angry people. It’s people like you who are in complete denial by calling everyone racists who are making people more angry!
Please show me where someone has said they don’t like Sudanese people because of the colour of their skin - that’s what the word “racist” means! Until then stop throwing the word around and twisting the meaning of it to mean anyone who is angry about immigration!

Yes, he is Sudanese - I didn’t say that shouldn’t have been reported. I didn’t say people shouldn’t be outraged, I DID specially say that it’s not racist to be angry at the immigration situation. I am angry myself and don’t think it can continue the way it is.

You’re saying no-one is targeting legal migrants but I have seen several posts saying there should be a blanket ban on anyone coming from these ‘backwards countries’, they don’t share our values etc etc - people who are migrants themselves saying they’re better because they’re from this country not that country. So now who is gaslighting who?

Racism can refer to race or ethnicity, by the way. It’s not just about skin colour.

I’m just tired of constantly seeing this shit from people who are lucky to be born where they are, who don’t go through unimaginable horrors because of where they were born. My husband’s family’s hometown was invaded by the RSF, they were some of the lucky ones who got out - don’t worry, they’re refugees in another country not the U.K. so no need to set fire to their houses.

Male violence is a scourge.

“I’m just tired of constantly seeing this shit from people who are lucky to be born where they are, who don’t go through unimaginable horrors because of where they were born.”

Yes and we are tired of constantly seeing the word racist bandied about like it’s about to go out of fashion

And you’re saying the attacker went through unimaginable horrors? And even if he did, why should anyone give a fuck what someone capable of gauging someone’s eyes out and attempting to behead them has gone through? The poor guy laying on the ground went through unimaginable horrors too… or is that ok?

”Racism can refer to race or ethnicity, by the way. It’s not just about skin colour.”
Yeah ok so let’s just throw the word around to dismiss and shut down angry people!

Your argument lost all credibility when you used that word, sorry!

You’re not even making any sense now.

Sure, people throw the word racist too much. Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t use it when it’s actually applicable.

Would you prefer ignorant? I’m happy to use that instead. Come to me when you actually know anything about the people you’re collectively smearing based on the country they were born in. Like being born in the west automatically makes you special and better than anyone else.

I wasn’t referring to the attacker. As far as I’m concerned he can experience all the horrors and then some more because he fucking deserves it. I haven’t said anything that implies I have any sympathy with him. I’m talking about my family as I’ve made quite obvious.

I’m sorry the word racist triggers you so much. Perhaps try not being a racist.

What word is ok to use to describe sweeping generalisations made about all people who come from a particular country or region? Or all people with a particular immigration status?