The DUP’s Jonathan Buckley, a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly has warned people violence on the streets “totally detracts from a broken immigration system”.

Buckley, who has been outspoken on immigration issues, told BBC Radio Ulster he was appealing for “calm and restraint” following the knife attack and the subsequent riots.

“I’m angry [about the knife attack], and I will pursue that in the right way, which is political,” he said.

He said he was in Portadown until the early hours of the morning, helping a 70-year-old man with dementia who had ended up in hospital because a brick went through his window. “That’s a Northern Ireland citizen,” he said.

“I had to comfort families that were terrorised. I had to speak with police to try to get calm in a situation.”

Eve Rosato
BBC News NI

A 30-year-old Sudanese man has appeared in court in Belfast charged with attempted murder.

Hadi Alodid, with an address in Duncairn Avenue in north Belfast, appeared via video link from Musgrave Serious Crime Suite.

He is also charged with possession of a knife in a public place and threats to kill an NHS worker.

The charges came following a knife attack in north Belfast on Monday night.

A man in his 40s remains in hospital with serious injuries to his eyes, neck and back after the attack in Kinnaird Avenue.

The court heard the victim lost his left eye in the incident.

Alodid was remanded into custody.

The Northern Ireland Indian Nurses Forum has said their members have felt “frightened and distressed” by the disorder and many are “anxious” about travelling to and from work.

In a statement, they said their thoughts are “first and foremost” with the victim and his family and they understand the “shock, anger and concern” that the attack has caused.

They said the disorder has led to “pain, fear, and division within our community”.

“When innocent people are harmed, communities naturally feel hurt and seek answers,” it continued, but added that “the actions of one individual should not define entire communities, races, or nationalities”.

“We respectfully appeal to everyone across Northern Ireland: please do not allow anger to turn into hatred, and please do not allow the actions of one person to create divisions between good people who have lived, worked, and supported one another for many years.”

Richard Morgan
BBC News NI

Image source, PA Media

The Crumlin Road in Belfast was at the centre of a significant emergency response last night.

Two cars were on fire, multiple properties and a number of bins set alight on roads.

An African family were inside a house which had its windows broken.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service had to get the family to safety, with the help of a local pastor.

As one of the occupants was removed, they collapsed into the arms of the fire officers. Four of them had to carry the individual and place them into the back of a vehicle.

The other occupants were able to walk out to the car but were clearly shaken.

The victim of the Belfast stabbing lost his left eye in the attack, Belfast Magistrates’ Court heard.

The suspected attacker, Hadi Alodid, has been remanded in custody for four weeks after being charged with attempted murder, threats to kill an NHS radiographer and possession of a knife.

Anselme Shima has lived in east Belfast for 13 years and on the same street for almost 10 years.

Speaking to BBC News NI on Wednesday morning, Shima says he is feeling a sense of "devastation".

He says the stabbing in north Belfast was "very horrific", adding that "no one will support that, no one will tolerate that".

“We condemn that firmly and we call for the justice to come.

“But whatever happened with the violence is devastating, is horrifying."

Shima, who has three children between the ages of two and nine, says the smoke began to come into his house from the Glider bus that was set alight nearby.

“I was devastated, horrified. I didn’t know what I can do to protect my children.”

He says he came out onto the streets this morning to see if roads were open and if it was safe to bring his children to school.

He tells the BBC it is "very difficult" to explain to his children why this is happening and that they have asked him if it is because of their skin colour.

He says the situation has gotten worse since he has lived in east Belfast and that he just wants “peace for my children".

“Myself, tonight, if I could have the possibility to put my family in a safer place I would take them, but I rely on the Housing Executive to do that, because myself I have no means to take my family to a safer place.

"What I’m asking... can we please live in peace together and to stop the violence?”

We're receiving new images of the damage done to parts of Belfast during the disorder on Tuesday night, which saw homes targeted and cars set alight, among other violence.

Husks of cars and debris from the chaos now litter some residential streets, where the fronts of several homes have also been blackened by the fires started.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA Media

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described the chaos in Belfast on Tuesday night as "shocking and completely unacceptable".

"There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere," he says in a post on X.

The prime minister adds it is "clear" people were targeted on the basis of their background "and I will not tolerate it", adding those behind the violence "will feel the full force of the law".

He says he's spoken to police and emergency services, as well as Northern Ireland leaders.

"Appealing for calm must be the priority, and that is what I urge now. We must let the police get on with their work," he says.

Jayne McCormack
BBC News NI political correspondent

Life is back to normal this morning in Whiteabbey, County Antrim, as commuters and people seeking access to the nearby hospital navigate traffic.

But a reminder of what unfolded last night remains, as the remnants of burnt out cars lie strewn across the Cloughfern roundabout.

A little further down the road a clear up of debris and bricks is under way.

Jamie Corrie has lived on Lendrick Street in east Belfast for 13 years.

Last night, his house went up in flames after a car was set alight outside.

Speaking to BBC News NI outside his home this morning, he says he's “gutted”.

Corrie says once the car went up in flames he “knew straight away because it was parked so close on the footpath next to the property”.

“I told them before they were lighting the car, I said ‘this is my property’."

He says the car belonged to “foreign nationals" who lived next door.

“See standing there watching your house get burnt … that’s a feeling I’ll never get over," he says.

While he is also angry about the stabbing in north Belfast, he asks: "What does this resolve? What does this actually do? Burning cars out, wrecking your own community and now one of their own has just lost their home."

“The wee street is alright, I know there’s all different nationalities in it, foreign nationals, I understand that, but … I keep myself to myself.”

He says by the time firefighters arrived last night his house was “already engulfed in flames”.

“Everything in that house is destroyed, from top to bottom. There’s stuff in there that’s sentimental, can’t be replaced, that you’ll not get again.”

He's asked what he would say to the people responsible: “What can you say to them? You try talk to them, they’re going to do it anyway. I understand people’s anger but … if they’re trying to make a statement they’re actually wrecking their own community. Who wants to walk down the street and see this?"

Corrie has children, but thankfully they were not in the house last night.

“I just have to try rebuild and go from here,” he says

A two-month-old baby was among the family members who had to be rescued by police officers during the violence on Tuesday night, according to the Chief Constable Jon Boutcher.

"Last night we rescued so many families," he tells the Good Morning Ulster programme.

"Taking families - a baby as young as two months - out of their address to safety, taking them to police stations.

"And by the way, these weren't just families from ethnic minority communities, these were families from across communities that were caught up in this vile behaviour last night.

"There is absolutely no excuse for it," he adds.

Image source, PA Media

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly tells Good Morning Ulster that she wants to "condemn any and all violence or thuggery that we witnessed on the streets in places across Northern Ireland last night".

"It is completely unacceptable. I think most people waking up this morning, if they didn’t see it on their screens last night, will be truly appalled," she says.

Little-Pengelly says it is absolutely right to say “all of us were completely appalling by what happened, horrified by what happened in north Belfast on Monday night”.

“But this violence, this thuggery, this intimidation, it is absolutely unacceptable.”

She says there were some people who were intent on taking something that started out as peaceful protests into the place of disorder.

“I would commend the many, many hundreds, thousands of people who turned out for peaceful protests. Those people genuinely feel angry. I think some of those people are undoubtedly very, very frustrated, they want their issues to be heard.”

She noted that immigration is not a devolved issue in Northern Ireland.

“What happened on Monday night absolutely appalled and terrified people. I have been listening to people, people are and have safety concerns. People do not want dangerous people to be living in our communities.”

She adds: “What I’m saying very clearly to the people listening to your show today is that I hear that people are angry, I hear that people are concerned. People want to be listened to. That is entirely separate from violence and thuggery, that is entirely unacceptable.”

The PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher says the violent disorder in Belfast was a "huge act of self-harm by mindless idiots who are actually only damaging their own futures".

"Last night's policing operation was about protecting life and trying to protect properties," he said.

He called on everybody in society to come together to prevent further disorder on the streets.

Image source, PA Media

The Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) Jon Boutcher has defended the way in which information about the nationality of the Belfast knife attack suspect was released.

"We have learned that if we don't give information, then online misinformation and lies lead to people believing things that aren't true and start to mindlessly conduct attacks," he said.

He explained that in the aftermath of the Southport stabbings in 2024, the policy was reviewed by authorities "who made it very clear that we have give information rather than sit on information and that's what we did yesterday".

Image source, Liam McBurney/PA Wire

However, in its first statement on Tuesday morning, the PSNI incorrectly suggested the suspect was from Somalia, before later correcting their statement to confirm he was from Sudan.

Boutcher said that "initially we said that the gentleman was from Somalia - we said that we believed that because that was the information that we were given after the incident occurred".

"And we're always going to get more detailed information as time passes by and I was pushing very directly with the Home Office to give us the information that we required so that we could comply with the lessons learned previously".

He added police were "stuck between a rock and a hard place" on the issue.

Dan Johnson
Reporting from Belfast

Homes were targeted and burned. Families had to be led to safety through the flames - rescued by emergency services risking their lives in the most dangerous situation.

It’s what the authorities feared all day. What they warned against and pleaded not to see. The condemnation came quickly and was widespread.

It wasn’t just homes, cars were also torched by young masked man in these predominantly unionist streets but the target here was immigrants and the message to entirely innocent families was: "You’re not welcome".

In the north of the city, more people were forced to flee including an African family who’ve lived here for 20 years.

Image source, PA Media

Yura, 19, is part of the Ukrainian family who were forced to flee their home on Lendrick Street in east Belfast during the disorder. She described the scenes last night as "terrifying".

"My neighbour's house was set on fire. So, my front door caught the fire a bit. It had to be kicked out to stop the fire because it was about to go in the house," she tells the BBC's Sara Girvin.

"I was with my dog at the house, so I had to escape through the back door. My neighbour's dog was trapped in the house so we were also trying to break into their house to get the dog.

"I was lucky that my friends live nearby, so they let me crash for the night."

Image source, PA Media

Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long has been speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.

She says that "it is just obscene that last night there were young children who had nothing to do with the attack in north Belfast, young families who had nothing to do with the attack in north Belfast who were left homeless, who lost everything because of what happened the night before".

"Yet they are completely innocent, and it's completely unacceptable, frankly, what has been done to them.”

Earlier, while speaking to BBC Breakfast, she describes the debate around suspected knifeman's immigration status as a "moot point".

"There's nothing to suggest, let's be clear, that the individual involved in this attack was anything other than a regularised person, so he had five years' leave to remain," she says.

"Irrespective of what his immigration status was, his conduct was absolutely wrong."

Pressed on whether there were people coming into Northern Ireland the community didn’t know about, Long said "we clearly did know something about him because he registered with the Home Office, he claimed asylum when he arrived in Northern Ireland as he is duty-bound to do, and he was given five years to remain".

Though she said more broadly that she had previously spoken to the Home Office about the exploitation of the Common Travel Area, which includes the UK and Ireland.

Kelly Bonner
BBC News NI

My colleague was in north Belfast on Tuesday night and he witnessed a young African family having to be moved.

The windows of their home were smashed and they had to be moved.

They spoke to my colleague and told him they had been living there for 20 plus years.

They don’t think they’ll be back.

Sara Girvin
BBC News Ireland Correspondent, reporting from Belfast

I'm in Lendrick Street in the east of the city, where one home has been completely burnt out and is now just a shell.

I've been speaking to the woman who lived there until last night.

She is from Belfast and recalled a car being set on fire, which then set fire to her home.

When I saw her this morning, she was really emotional and had a bag with her trying to pull together whatever she could.

A Ukrainian family had also been living in the house next door. They fled to Northern Ireland from the Ukrainian war about two and a half years ago.

They spoke about the fear of seeing masked men walk up their street, knowing their front door was on fire.

They had to escape out the back of the house with their pet dog.

A "very dangerous spotlight" was placed on Somali people living in Northern Ireland following a police statement about the Belfast knife attack, a Belfast community worker has claimed.

Initially, police said they believed the knife suspect was from Somalia, but later clarified he is actually from Sudan, explaining they had been reacting to a fast-moving situation,

Suleiman Abdulahi, who is originally from Somalia but lives in Belfast, has been working to support refugees in Northern Ireland for the past 15 years.

He told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme that he disagrees with the policy of releasing information about a suspect's nationality so early in the investigation, saying it had "contributed to violence against innocent people".

Abdulahi says there is a lot of anger in the Somali community about the issue.

He adds he is now "worried for the future of this country" following Tuesday's violence, and says all innocent people living in Northern Ireland should be protected "equally".