Violent demonstrations erupted in Belfast last night as hundreds of masked individuals set homes and vehicles ablaze following the detention of a Sudanese migrant linked to a severe stabbing incident.

The chaos engulfed parts of the city as houses, cars, and a bus were torched, with reports suggesting that non-white residents may have been intentionally targeted in some of these arson attacks.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, strongly denounced the violence, labeling it as “outright thuggery.” She described the actions of masked groups burning families out of their homes as “nothing less than disgusting cowardice.”

The protesters reportedly focused on Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), which are shared living spaces that some allege are being used to accommodate migrants at the expense of taxpayers.

This unrest was a reaction to a violent stabbing incident the previous night, where a Sudanese migrant allegedly attacked a man with a knife, inflicting injuries to his face, neck, and back on a residential street in Belfast.

Described by police as a 30-year-old asylum seeker who had been granted indefinite leave to remain, the suspect was last night charged with attempted murder and will appear in court today. 

But behind the unquestionably damnable violence were grave new questions over a gaping ‘backdoor to Britain’. The Sudanese suspect legally crossed from the Republic of Ireland to Northern Ireland three years ago under a long-standing arrangement which means no passport checks are conducted.

He took a bus from Dublin to Belfast and immediately claimed asylum, the authorities revealed under pressure for answers yesterday. A few months later, the Home Office granted him a five-year visa as a refugee.

There are growing calls for a review of border security measures deployed under the so-called Common Travel Area (CTA) which means no passport checks are conducted between Northern Ireland and the Republic. 

The victim was named locally as Stephen Ogilvie, in his 40s, who last night remained in a serious condition in hospital. It is understood he lived in the same block of social housing as the suspect.

Lendrick Street in east Belfast was engulfed in flames, with multiple cars and at least one house ablaze

Hundreds of masked men defied government ministers’ calls for calm to take to the streets

A Glider bus on the Newtownards Road in east Belfast was one of the first targets to be set alight

Stephen Ogilvie was named locally as the victim of Monday night’s attack

A 30-year-old man described by police as a Sudanese asylum seeker granted indefinite leave to remain was charged with attempted murder and will today appear in court 

Hundreds of masked protesters defied ministers’ calls for calm by amassing in the streets of Northern Ireland’s capital, leading to violent clashes with police. 

Residents were evacuated from their homes after houses were set on fire on several streets, and a Middle Eastern supermarket was also set ablaze.

Pastor Jack McKee, at one such scene on Crumlin Road, in the city’s north, told BBC News that residents were being hounded from their homes ‘because they’re black’. Lendrick Road in east Belfast was another swallowed up by flames.

In the Lower Newtownards Road area, around 100 masked men made their way down the street kicking in doors and smashing windows, saying they were ‘getting the foreigners out’, the BBC reported.

It was also reported that groups of locals had set up checkpoints and were checking passing cars for foreign nationals.

The dramatic scenes began unfolding at around 8pm, soon after crowds started gathering, when protesters pushed a flaming bin into a Glider bus on the Newtownards Road, burning it to a cinder.

Police vehicles also came under attack from bricks and vandals climbing on top of them, and at least one was set on fire.

Around 20 miles outside Belfast, in County Antrim, a Turkish barber shop was attacked, with its front door and windows smashed in.

Anti-immigrant protests also took place in several other cities around the UK on Tuesday night, including London, Glasgow, and Southampton.

A young man smiles at the camera in front of a burning barricade on Duncairn Gardens

A house burns in east Belfast – one of several set on fire during the course of the evening

Another shot of the road, where one of the flaming cars has been turned onto its side

Protesters attack a police vehicle on Sandy Row in Belfast

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson, of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), sought to quell the ‘sporadic pockets of disorder’ soon after the potential for serious disorder became clear.

He urged ‘everyone to remain calm, act responsibly, and avoid any activity that could place themselves or others at risk’, and said officers were ‘on the ground, working alongside partner agencies, responding to incidents as they arise’.

The PSNI also issued a Police Dispersal Order and warned protesters that force may be used to protect public safety. 

The disorder was later met with strong words from Ms O’Neill, who said: ‘This has nothing to do with community. This is outright thuggery.

‘The attack in north Belfast was heinous and wrong. But there are dangerous attempts to exploit that, to target and attack innocent people who are simply trying to live, work and raise their families here.’

She added that racism, intimidation and violence were wrong wherever it occurred. 

‘There can be no excuse and no justification for these attacks tonight. No one wants to see this on our streets and I again appeal for calm,’ she said.

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly reiterated that ‘violence does not advance any cause, it damages it’, adding: ‘Destroying things within your own community benefits no one.’

Fire crews worked into the night to subdue fires burning at several sites around the city

A masked protester prepares to throw a brick at police on York Road in North Belfast

The horrific street stabbing on Monday night prompted calls for a review of border security measures deployed under the so-called Common Travel Area, or CTA, which encompasses the UK, Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Officers have said they did not believe the attack was related to terrorism.

Earlier, following repeated questions about the suspect’s immigration status, Police Service of Northern Ireland Chief Constable Jon Boutcher confirmed the alleged knifeman had travelled from Sudan to Paris and then on to Dublin, before taking a bus into the UK in February 2023.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘The CTA means the UK relies on the Republic of Ireland to secure its border, and any weakness in the Irish border is also a weakness in ours.

‘Clearly, a lot more must be done to prevent the CTA operating as a backdoor to the UK for illegal immigrants. We need a review into border security measures in the interests of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.’

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said he did not know the answer to the ‘legitimate question’ of how he arrived here

Michelle O’Neill condemned the ‘outright thuggery’ on Belfast’s streets

Under the CTA, a key part of the Good Friday Agreement, there are typically no checks on travellers between the Republic and Northern Ireland, nor any on journeys to mainland Britain.

David Wood, the Home Office’s director of immigration enforcement until 2015, said: ‘The CTA has always been a weakness and on some days we used to find that there were no checks at all being conducted at Dublin airport.

‘Anyone arriving in the Republic can be in London, Manchester or wherever they want to be within a day or two.

‘The CTA is an abused route and it’s always been an abused route.’

A 2010 assessment by the UK’s Cross Border Organised Crime Group concluded that ‘Ireland can be used as a back door to gain access to the United Kingdom and vice versa’.

The following year, a report by then Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration John Vine urged the Home Office to ‘strengthen’ measures to prevent abuse of the CTA.

Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister, Naomi Long, said yesterday: ‘What we don’t want on either side of the border is to see the CTA being exploited for ill purposes.’

Home Office sources said there was no record of the suspect being in the UK before 2023. Horror unfolded at around 10.30pm on Monday night in Kinnaird Avenue, north Belfast, a majority Roman Catholic area.

Hero Matt McKiernan was armed only with a wooden stick when he led a trio of members of the public to rescue the attacker’s victim from death

Matt McKiernan (left) was armed only with a wooden stick when he led a trio of members of the public who tried to rescue the attacker’s victim from certain death

Graphic video footage filmed by witnesses and shared on social media showed a man armed with a knife pinning another man to the ground before repeatedly striking him to the face and neck.

Before police arrived, the suspect was tackled by brave passers-by, including removals firm boss Matt McKiernan, who used his son’s hurling stick to try to stop the attack, hitting the knifeman several times.

Last night he told the Daily Mail: ‘We could see what looked to be two men fighting in the street, with one on top of the other.

‘We thought we better go and break it up. [My friend] Andre was in the front passenger seat and he jumped out first.

‘But as he got closer he saw the knife. He shouted to me… to get something to help.’

The victim remained in hospital last night, where he was being treated for serious eye, face and back wounds, police said. 

The Belfast Telegraph reported that witnesses fear he was blinded in the attack. The suspect was last night charged with attempted murder, possession of an article with blade or point in a public place and threats to kill. 

In Northern Ireland, the authorities do not release the name of accused persons before they appear in court.

In a press conference, Northern Ireland deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly called on the British government to address concerns about migrants of unknown status freely entering Northern Ireland across the Irish border.

‘We have been aware for some considerable time that there are people coming across the Irish border to claim asylum in Northern Ireland,’ she said. 

‘Those people, very often we do not know their background, we do not know the routes that they come through, and we do not know if they have any convictions or any history in another jurisdiction.’ 

Nigel Farage, on a visit to Grangemouth in Scotland, said the attack was ‘absolutely shocking, barbaric, ghastly’.

The Reform UK leader added: ‘He was given leave to remain, as almost all these people are. We dish out leave to remain like Smarties to people about whom we know nothing, and some of whom cause great harm in our country. Frankly, these people shouldn’t be here.’

Tommy Robinson and X owner Elon Musk urged people to take to the streets of Britain and demonstrate.

PSNI assistant chief constable Ryan Henderson warned that disorder ‘damages communities, damages local businesses and brings young people into the criminal justice system when they shouldn’t be’.

In a disturbing incident captured on video, a San Antonio Spurs supporter was attacked by an unruly crowd who ripped away his jersey during the chaos that erupted in Midtown following Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The confrontation occurred just after midnight on Tuesday when the 39-year-old fan was making his way back to his hotel, as reported by the NYPD. The encounter took place outside 306 West 47th Street, where a large group confronted him.

Social media footage depicts the man in a Spurs jersey attempting to evade the mob as they closed in on him. Despite his efforts to flee, he was surrounded and subjected to physical assault.

In the frenzy, the Spurs fan was punched, kicked, and his Tim Duncan No. 21 jersey was forcibly removed. This incident unfolded amid the chaos caused by throngs of Knicks fans in Midtown, who were reacting to their team’s narrow defeat in Monday night’s Game 3 of the NBA Finals.

The fan made attempts to defend himself but was ultimately overpowered and knocked to the ground. As the video shows, he endured repeated kicks before managing to flee down the street, with members of the mob in pursuit.

While running away, a member of the mob was seen kicking him to the ground, clips showed.

He suffered cuts to his face and bruising and was taken to Mount Sinai West Hospital in stable condition, cops said.

The NYPD released pictures of six separate people wanted in connection with the violent robbery.

Though none of the wanted individuals appeared to be pictured in Knicks merch, many fans clad in blue and orange were seen in the massive crowd closing in on the Spurs fan.

Some New Yorkers and Knicks faithful blasted the hooligans for the violence in subsequent videos shared online.

Police arrested 21 people overnight for offenses including assault on a police officer, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, menacing, resisting arrest, and obstructing governmental administration after trying to control the thousands of people gathered outside a Bryant Park Knicks watch party.

In a separate assault, dozens of enraged Knicks fans surrounded a Spurs fan on the streets and tore apart his Victor Wembanyama jersey.

Five NYPD officers were injured in the fracas, with some ruffians chucking glass objects at each other and police officers, and ripping bus signs and trees out of the ground to throw them.

Rowdy fans also climbed scaffolding, light poles, police cars, and NYPD trucks, causing “significant damage,” police said.

An investigation into the incident remains ongoing.

The murder trial of Karmelo Anthony reached a dramatic climax on Tuesday evening, as the father of Austin Metcalf, a high school athlete, confronted his son’s killer in court.

During his victim impact statement, Jeff Metcalf demanded that Anthony meet his gaze, recounting the heartbreaking details of his son’s tragic demise. This emotional confrontation underscored the gravity of the loss felt by Metcalf’s family.

“You’re going to prison,” Jeff Metcalf stated firmly to Anthony. “You can’t even look me in the eyes right now, but you could stab my son in the heart.”

Anthony, who is 19 years old, was overcome with emotion as he received a 35-year prison sentence for the fatal stabbing of 17-year-old Metcalf at a high school track meet.

Following the sentencing, Jeff Metcalf expressed the “unfiltered rage” he harbors over the senseless death of his son, highlighting the enduring pain of a family torn apart.

‘If you ask me what my son’s death did to me, I would tell you it destroyed the person I used to be. Not changed me, destroyed me,’ Jeff told the court.

The still-grieving father said the Metcalf family was ‘robbed’ of seeing Austin grow up and expressed grief he couldn’t defend his son at the sporting event in April 2025.

‘People think that grief is sadness but it’s not. IT’S RAGE!!! Pure unfiltered rage,’ Jeff shouted. 

‘My son’s death didn’t just break my heart,’ he continued, claiming it also destroyed ‘my sense of safety, my faith in people.’

Austin Metcalf’s father, Jeff Metcalf, hit out at his son’s killer in court on Tuesday for not being able to look him in the eye

Karmelo Anthony, 19, pictured in his booking photo on Tuesday, was sentenced to serve 35 years behind bars for fatally stabbing Austin Metcalf, 17, last year

Austin Metcalf, 17, died after Anthony stabbed him with a folding knife at a track meet last April

Jeff also struck down arguments that the case was about race – as Anthony is a black teenager and Metcalf was white.

Instead, he argued, the case was about ‘right and wrong.’

‘We’re all humans. We all bleed the same color,’ Jeff noted, before addressing Anthony himself.

‘You’re free to make choices all you want, but you’re not free from those consequences. You will face those consequences starting today,’ he said.  

‘You failed your parents, you failed yourself and you failed society. You don’t belong in this community,’ the heartbroken father concluded.

The court also heard from Metcalf’s mother and twin brother, who picked up where his father left off.

‘If you could just look me in the eye while I speak, I would really respect that,’ Hunter Metcalf told his brother’s killer. 

But Anthony kept looking down as Hunter said he wanted ‘everything to be taken’ from him.

‘You took a son, a brother, a friend, and my best friend, from this world,’ Hunter said, getting emotional. ‘You took someone from me who was supposed to be an uncle, godfather to my kids. Now I want everything taken from you.’

Both Jeff and Austin’s twin brother, Hunter, delivered victim impact statements in court 

Anthony had wandered into the tent for Frisco ISD’s Memorial High School at the track meet

Hunter went on to speak about the fatal stabbing.

‘You let the devil take over in that moment,’ he said. ‘Eventually your name will be forgotten, but my brother’s memory will live on.’

‘I know deep down, you really forget what you did,’ Hunter continued, arguing he is usually fair about seeking justice

‘I always say “An eye for an eye,” but you still have air to breathe while my brother is six feet under,’ he noted, sharing how his mother cries herself to sleep and that he wakes up every day to find his brother’s bedroom door still shut.

In her own statement, Metcalf’s mother, Meghan, said she was left ‘crushed’ by Austin’s death and seeing the effect it had on Hunter.

‘Seeing my loving son, his identical twin, lose the most important person in his life, it crushes you as a mother,’ she said.

She went on to describe Austin as a ‘hugger’ who ‘always had a way of bringing people together.’

‘He was the peacemaker, the protector,’ Meghan recounted.

‘There is a part of him you can never take away from me or anyone who loves Austin. What it meant to be loved by him. It’s the love that I can continue to have in my heart.

‘He was taken from us just as he was starting to really live,’ the slain teen’s mom said as she addressed Anthony directly.

‘You may have just been given a sentence of 35 years behind bars but you can consider yourself lucky because I’ve been sentenced to a lifetime without my son,’ Meghan said.

Anthony was found guilty of murder on Tuesday, leaving him and his family in tears

An Austin Metcalf supporter held a sign outside the Collin County courthouse after the verdict was reached

An emotional Karmelo Anthony supporter was consoled by another outside the courthouse

The powerful testimonies came just hours after Anthony was found guilty of murder, leaving him and his family in tears. 

He had originally faced between five and 99 years behind bars for knifing Metcalf at the track event in Frisco, Texas, last year.

But after the verdict was passed at the Collin County courthouse on Tuesday, prosecutors agreed to consider ‘sudden passion’ as a factor when determining Anthony’s sentence.

‘Sudden passion’ is a legal term in Texas that allows a criminal to argue they were in an intense emotional state when they committed wrongdoing. It would have reduced Anthony’s murder to a second-degree felony, for which he could have served as little as two years behind bars.

It was then left up to the jury to decide whether to apply the ‘sudden passion’ argument to the case and reduce Anthony’s murder charge or stick to their original verdict.

Both the defense and the prosecution presented arguments for and against the ‘sudden passion’ argument, with defense attorney Mike Howard arguing Anthony ‘didn’t have time for cool reflection.’

‘He acted in that moment and sudden passion applies,’ he claimed.  

Prosecutor Bill Wirskye, however, argued that the ‘sudden passion’ clause is ‘inapplicable’ in this situation.

Anthony had claimed he was acting in self-defense when he stabbed Metcalf with a folding knife after a heated argument under a tent

Witnesses who were in the tent described Anthony as the aggressor, testifying that Anthony told Metcalf, ‘Touch me and see what happens,’ provoking Metcalf to push Anthony, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest

‘Sudden passion doesn’t fit here. They’ve got it wrong,’ he claimed. ‘Sudden passion is when the victim, the dead person provokes. Who caused this? Not Austin Metcalf, Karmelo Anthony did.’

Wirskye went on to note that the law says that ‘sudden passion’ applies to a person of ‘ordinary temper.’

‘Do you think a person of ordinary temper would have plunged a knife in Austin’s chest?’ he asked, rhetorically.

Anthony had claimed he was acting in self-defense when he stabbed Metcalf with a folding knife after a heated argument under a tent.

Yet witnesses who were in the tent described Anthony as the aggressor, testifying that Anthony told Metcalf, ‘Touch me and see what happens,’ provoking Metcalf to push Anthony, who then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest.

Prosecutors said Metcalf’s twin brother, Hunter, rushed to his aid as Anthony ran from the scene and later tried to blend into groups of kids who were fleeing the stadium.

Law enforcement officials stood in front of the courthouse on Tuesday as protesters on both sides flocked to the scene

A crowd was seen gathering by Collin County Sheriffs vehicles parked in front of the courthouse after the Karmelo Anthony verdict was reached 

Anthony sat motionless in court as police body camera footage from April last year showed Hunter pleading for help after the stabbing.

Hunter shouted, ‘Oh my God. He’s my best friend. He’s my brother.’

He became hysterical as he begged for help and cried out, ‘I can’t do this.’

At one point, Hunter grew incoherent and seemed to be praying out loud.

Jurors gasped in horror after being shown never-before-seen photos of Metcalf’s punctured heart during the trial.

Metcalf was stabbed once in the chest. The knife pierced through his bone in the center of his chest and punctured the right side of his heart, a medical examiner testified.

While cross-examining the medical examiner, Anthony’s lawyers implied that Metcalf impaled himself on the knife.

After his defense lawyers called on six witnesses who offered underwhelming evidence, Anthony opted not to take the stand.

At a brief press conference, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said justice was served in Karmelo Anthony’s murder trial. He was joined by Metcalf’s family

The jury then spent less than three hours on Tuesday before passing its guilty verdict, and another roughly two and a half hours before they handed down their sentence.

Anthony will now have to serve at least half of the sentence before he is eligible for parole.

At a brief press conference, Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis said justice was served in Karmelo Anthony’s murder trial.

‘This verdict sends a clear message that violence will not be tolerated in Collin County or in our schools,’ he said.

But Anthony’s supporters have claimed he had been treated unfairly in the trial because he is black, and there were no black members on the jury.

Twelve jurors and six alternates, who are mostly white, with the exception of three Hispanics, two Asians, and two from the Middle East and India, had been selected to decide Anthony’s fate. 

During jury selection, defense attorneys raised a Batson challenge: a legal objection used when it is believed potential jurors were struck off because of race. 

The challenge and jury selection may now come into question for possible appeals.

A chaotic scene unfolded at Hersheypark on its opening day, resulting in charges against more than 50 young individuals after a large-scale brawl erupted, prompting families to protect their children by taking cover under tables.

The Derry Township Police Department disclosed on Monday that a total of 55 individuals, most of whom were minors aged 12 to 19, were implicated in several altercations throughout the renowned Pennsylvania amusement park on April 3.

Participants in the melee are now facing various misdemeanor and felony charges.

Authorities reported that surveillance footage captured two distinct groups, referred to as “Group A and Group B,” initially engaging in a verbal dispute in one park area. This confrontation escalated into a full-scale fight shortly after 6:51 p.m., just over an hour before the park’s scheduled closing time.

Law enforcement was summoned to assist security in dispersing the “large fight” near the Trailblazer coaster, a ride favored by families.

The dueling groups were separated before meeting up again at a food court, forcing families to hide under tables and flee the area, PennLive reported, citing court documents.

Witnesses told the police the brawl included 50 to 60 teenagers.

One of the fights had spilled over to near one of the rollercoasters, where at least a dozen youngersters grappled and punched each other as a large crowd gathered around them filming the fracas next to the tracks of a rollercoaster, according to video posted online.

The violent squabble forced park staff to shut down the coaster.

“These actions caused serious inconvenience to Hersheypark staff and patrons of the park. This caused an emergency stop to the Skyrush ride,” officers said in court records viewed by the outlet.

Some of the fighting teens had been kicked out by police at a side gate, but reentered the park at the main gate and got into another fight at around 7:30 p.m.

After a three-month investigation, officials filed charges for the “disorderly and assaultive behavior by numerous youths” that included Simple Assault, Conspiracy, Theft, Failure to Disperse, Disorderly Conduct, Aggravated Assault, and Riot, among others, police said.

Omar Ibraham, 19, Jerome Ross, III, 18, and Quaneek Williams, 18, all from Harrisburg, Penn., were publicly identified as the only three adults facing charges in the massive brawl, police said.

Williams has been charged with felony riot, assault and failing to disperse, among other charges, according to a probable cause affidavit viewed by PennLive.

Ibrahim and Ross were charged with theft after they allegedly took an admittance wristband from a minor and used it to enter the park.

The theft charge was for $90.80, the cost of a single-day admission pass to the park, the outlet reported.

The three men were charged through summons and have not been arrested as of Tuesday night. Their first court appearances are set for July 7.

Hersheypark had officially opened for its 120th season hours earlier.

“Consistent with Hersheypark’s zero tolerance policy, those who do not abide by our policy will no longer be welcome on our property,” the park told CBS21.

The Post has reached out to Hersheypark.

Hersheypark does not appear to have a chaperone policy for minors visiting the park.

Other amusement parks, including multiple Six Flags locations, have put strict age restrictions in recent months in an attempt to battle rampant nuisance from younger customers.

“All guests ages 17 years old or younger must be accompanied by a chaperone who is at least 21 years old to be admitted to or remain in the park. The policy will be in effect starting at 4:00pm each operating day,” according to the new policy on New Jersey’s Six Flags Great Adventure website.