A brutal stabbing by a Sudanese man, in Northern Ireland and the unrest that followed in the streets of Belfast are being seized on by the far right to demonize immigrants and encourage more violence.
On the night of June 8, 30-year-old Hadi Alodid, a refugee in Northern Ireland legally, allegedly stabbed a man in a residential area of Belfast. He is facing charges of attempted murder, possessing a knife, and threatening to kill a National Health Service radiographer earlier in the day.
According to Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, the victim “is in hospital with serious injuries to his eyes and slash-wound injuries to his back and face.”
The police took the suspect into custody immediately after the attack, but that quick action did not quell the street violence that ensued, including clashes with police, firebombings, and property damage, resulting in multiple arrests.
Both the attack and the violence that followed are being used as propaganda by the international far right to spread racist narratives about immigrants, or incite their followers to join the anti-immigrant street protests.
What Happened?
Around 10:30 PM, Alodid is alleged to have attacked the victim, 44-year-old Stephen Ogilvie, during which he sustained cuts to his face, neck, and back. He is reported to have lost one eye and sustained damage to another.
Images are circulating online claiming to be the victim in hospital, though these have not been confirmed. The latest comments from police indicate that he remains in serious condition.
A video recorded by bystanders shows a portion of the attack, as one man is seen stabbing the victim. The perpetrator shouts at the camera person until he is subdued by members of the public. Police arrive shortly after.
Police have said they do not believe the incident to be terrorism-related. Shortly after the incident, video and images from the footage circulated quickly online.
The night following the attack, June 9, saw what police called “sporadic pockets of disorder” break out across the city as anti-immigrant protesters clashed with authorities. Some of the protesters targeted homes of immigrants, who became the victims of arson. Vehicles, including a city bus, were set alight.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the stabbing “horrific” and “sickening” in the wake of the attack. He also made strong statements against the first night of violence in Belfast.
“There is no justification for the violence and disorder that we saw threatening our communities, nor for those who encouraged it, online or elsewhere,” Starmer wrote on X. “It is clear that people were targeted last night because of their background and I will not tolerate it. Those responsible will feel the full force of the law.”
Ogilvie’s family similarly condemned the violence, adding that “peaceful protest is the only way forward,” in a statement.
“We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country…We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.”
Ofcom, the U.K.’s official communications regulator, released an open letter to social media companies stating that the organization had “seen civil unrest in the city, some of which appears to have been incited online. This has included racially motivated incidents of violence, arson attacks on homes and vehicles, and attacks against police.”
British and Irish Far Right Seize on the Attack
The reaction from the U.K. and international far right was almost immediate. Shortly after the horrific attack, Tommy Robinson, an anti-Muslim extremist and founder of the far-right English Defense League (EDL), whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, urged people to take to the streets in protest. Robinson, who held an anti-immigrant rally in the center of London on May 16, took to the social media platform X to post calls for protests in the streets and share footage of violence committed during the protests, which he blames on the U.K. government for allowing migrants into the country.
Posts by UK anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson about the unrest in Northern Ireland. (Source: X)
Elon Musk, owner of X and the world’s richest man, has boosted Robinson and numerous incendiary claims about immigrants, before and after the Northern Ireland attack. These include the locations of multiple flash protests being promoted by Robinson.
“Murderous migrants beheading innocent people in their home town is what’s making people angry, not ‘social media,’” Musk wrote on X on June 10, responding to claims he was inflaming tensions.
Musk, who has 240 million followers on his platform, has repeatedly posted or shared racist, anti-immigrant content specifically related to the U.K. since the stabbing, including calls to deport millions of people.
U.K. activist Danny “Tommo” Thomas, an associate of Robinson’s who has coordinated efforts to prevent boats of migrants intending to travel to the U.K. from leaving the coast of France, said on June 9, that he was traveling to Belfast to take part in the protests. After arriving on June 9, he posted a video to his YouTube channel of him visiting the site of the stabbing and driving around Belfast attempting to gain entry to areas that had been impacted by the riots.
“Do not publish any footage showing the faces of NI patriots! Have we learned nothing from this week? Use your fucking heads, this is not a game,” he wrote in a post on X.
On June 10, he claimed to have been “shoulder to shoulder” with protesters in Belfast, adding that, “What happened in Belfast yesterday was more than a protest, it was a powerful, defiant roar from the heart of a people who refuse to be replaced or silenced. It sent a crystal-clear message to the authorities: We will not surrender our homeland.”
Former mixed martial arts champion Conor McGregor used the protests as a means of pushing anti-immigrant views.
On X, McGregor posted a still image taken from the footage of the attack sarcastically captioned, “Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here.”
Racism and anti-immigrant views have been a frequent focus of the Republic of Ireland native’s public statements and a linchpin of his so-far failed political ambitions.
Post by former UFC fighter Conor McGregor with a still image taken from video of the Belfast attack. (Source: X)
A channel on the encrypted chat and social media application Telegram dedicated to far-right “nationalist” street actions posted a video showing an alleged street patrol made up of “loyalists and nationalists” who were “looking for migrants.”
In Ireland, nationalists and loyalists refer to two camps typically divided by ideology, religion, and a history of sectarian violence. Nationalists (sometimes referred to as republicans), who are typically Catholic, support Northern Ireland leaving the United Kingdom and rejoining the Republic of Ireland. Loyalists, who are typically Protestant, support NI remaining.
A Telegram post alleging that Irish nationalists and loyalists have been working together to track down migrants. (Source: Telegram)
There has long been violent conflict between the two groups, as well as disagreement inside each camp. Reporting in the Belfast Times cites a republican “dissident” saying that they intended to protest the homes of migrants, though it was not specific about in which areas or how.
A Telegram account that identifies as being run from the Republic of Ireland discussing violence and arson against the homes of migrants. (Source: Telegram)
Another channel dedicated to far-right news and commentary inside the Republic of Ireland, Ireland Woes, reposted videos of houses burning with the caption “invader houses on fire all across Belfast,” calling immigrants “violent” and saying that the situation was “always going to end badly for them.”
Local Violence, International Attention
The white nationalist and pan-European Identitarian movement used the incident to warn of further violence if “remigration” doesn’t happen. Remigration calls for the forced removal of immigrants, refugees, and even citizens from traditionally white countries based on race, ethnicity, or perceived cultural belonging.
The defacto leader of the Identitarians, former neo-Nazi Martin Sellner, framed the violence in Belfast as “a trailer for what’s going to happen” if immigration continues. He calls remigration, a euphemism for ethnic cleansing, “the only rational, humane and legal solution to prevent Western Europe from turning into a post-democratic gangland.”
Another post on the Northern Ireland riots by Sellner finishes with an ominous threat: “Remigration or civil war. Your choice.” Sellner’s newly-founded organization, the Institute for Remigration, made a post calling for “a nationwide referendum on full scale remigration tomorrow.”
Far-right activist Martin Sellner blaming immigration and multiculturalism for the violence in Belfast. (Source: X)
Belgian Identitarian and Holocaust denier Dries van Langenhove shared a video related to the protests of a house on fire, saying “Remigration is the peaceful option. This, a thousandfold, is the alternative.”
The phrase “moderate” or “peaceful” solution is a term used by the far right to denote the existence of a more extreme, and often violent (such as setting houses on fire) method to achieving their goals.
Belgian Identitarian and Holocaust denier Dries van Langenhove stating that forced relocation of non-white people out of Europe is a more peaceful option than the Belfast riots. (Source: X)
Joey Mannarino, an American MAGA influencer who recently appeared at a Sellner-led conference dedicated to “remigration,” took to X to support the violence.
“The people in Belfast are doing exactly what they should be doing,” Mannarino posted to his account. “Reclaim your country.”
When speaking at the May 30 Remigration Summit in Porto, Portugal, Mannarino used his time to encourage the audience to “get the freaking people who don’t belong in Europe and America out of these countries” and “preserve western civilization.” He claims, “remigration is actually a very moderate solution” and that migrants are “engaged in a war against us [white people].”
MAGA activist Joey Mannarino on X telling his followers that the rioters in Belfast are “doing exactly what they should be doing.” (Source: X)
In the chat group on American MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec’s Telegram channel, users said it was “insane we ever pretended these savages were human beings” with another stating “an eye for an eye” alongside the claim that “U.K. politicians should watch their backs…and eyes.”
Members of the American neo-Nazi movement also chimed in, including Nathan Damigo, who was formerly part of the American Identitarian Movement. Damigo posted to Telegram telling his followers that the Belfast rioters should “commit to the complete overthrow of the government” or potentially face decades of jail time. He accused U.K Prime Minister Keir Starmer of giving “billions of dollars to anti-white institutions to crush you and brainwash your children.”
A post on June 9, 2026 to Nathan Damigo’s Telegram channel advocating for the Belfast rioters to overthrow the government. (Source: Telegram)
One of the largest networks to offer its support for the rioting were multiple chapters of the neo-Nazi Active Club movement. Active Clubs are part of a transnational, white supremacist network that engages in physical training, practices mixed martial arts (MMA), and spreads hate propaganda in anticipation of what they believe is an impending “race war.”
Active Clubs are decentralized, but take their aesthetic and advocacy cues from American neo-Nazi Robert Rundo, who came up with the idea. Since Rundo proposed the concept in December 2020, the number of clubs has skyrocketed. In 2025, research by the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism (GPAHE) found 187 active AC chapters in 27 countries.
Multiple posts and reports on Telegram by different chapters of the Active Club movement. (Source: Telegram)
In response to the stabbing, multiple clubs in Germany, Lithuania, Norway, and many others posted in support of the street protests. The Active Club England posted on Telegram on June 9, “another day, another news headline of a white man being butchered by an invader.”
One of the largest Active Club Telegram channels, White Lads Aesthetics, featured a picture of two masked individuals running from a burning police truck. The caption read “white boy summer is starting off hot this year.”
Also on June 9, Australian neo-Nazi Blair Cottrell posted an image to Telegram depicting a large group of people walking through the snow. The same post claims that messages are circulating online calling for “all men aged 18 and over” to come to Belfast in “dark clothing” and “be prepared to fight or be arrested.”
In response, Christopher Alan Pohlhaus, also known as “The Hammer,” a former U.S. marine and founder of the neo-Nazi Blood Tribe, reposted Cottrell’s message with the note “Put me in coach.”
Other groups from the white nationalist scene, particularly the Proud Boys, a U.S. white nationalist male-only organization founded in 2016, chimed in. The group opposes political correctness, supports Western chauvinism, and engages in street-level political confrontations, with several members having been prosecuted for their roles in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
“Fuck that Sudanese n****r, burn them all out,” Northern California’s Hell Valley Proud Boys wrote on Telegram. “This is what happens when you push people too far.”
“Fucking go ginger n****rs. It’s now or never,” the New Jersey chapter of the group wrote alongside footage of houses burning.
Numerous other U.S. chapters posted similar racist and violent sentiment about the riots and the tragic stabbing.
Looking Forward
This repeats an unfortunate pattern in the United Kingdom, where tragic crimes are used as an inciting factor in anti-immigrant sentiment and violence. There have been multiple incidents of anti-immigrant targeting in the U.K. over the past several years, including in Northern Ireland.
In 2025, when two Roma teenagers were charged with sexually assaulting a girl, rioters targeted homes and cars for arson. Numerous businesses and homes were targeted as rioters believed them to be owned by foreigners.
One of the most destructive of these events in recent memory was the aftermath of a horrific stabbing attack that left three girls dead at a children’s dance class in Southport, England, in July 2024. Armed with an eight-inch chef’s knife, 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana also injured ten others before being taken into custody by police.
While Rudakubana was born in Cardiff, Wales, false information swirled online that the attack was committed by an asylum seeker. Anti-immigrant sentiment spilled out into the streets resulting in days of riots as mosques and residences were targeted. Hundreds of people were charged in relation to the violence.
Tragedies like the one in Belfast are easily capitalized on and exploited by the global far right who use it as a means of furthering racist narratives about foreigners and drive their supporters into action.
