Anti-migrant content online sparks violence in Belfast

Disturbing footage of a knife attack in Belfast has been circulated by far-right accounts in the UK and overseas, contributing to violent overnight protests that authorities warned could flare up again on Wednesday.

The 54-second clip, filmed by an as-yet unidentified onlooker, was posted on X late Monday by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known by his self-adopted moniker Tommy Robinson, News.Az reports, citing The New Region.

It appeared on his account around an hour after police said a man in his 40s had been seriously injured in a stabbing on a north Belfast street. The victim has since been named as Stephen Ogilvie.

Yaxley-Lennon's post was swiftly shared online and generated a flurry of responses, including a barrage of xenophobic comments and racist memes.

X owner Elon Musk - who has more than 240 million followers on his platform - was among those to amplify far-right reaction to the incident.

As the attack footage ricocheted across X, particularly on UK-based anti-immigration accounts, incendiary posts with demands such as that all migrants must leave Britain emerged online.

Within hours, the video had also spread to Facebook and was notably shared on a page in the Republic of Ireland which called for all Muslims to be "ejected".

Another Northern Ireland-based account repeatedly urged people to join mass protests.

Meanwhile some Facebook users posted an AI-generated image of African migrants on a small boat being hit by a man wielding a hurling stick.

That came after a local man intervened in the Belfast stabbing by beating off the attacker with a hurling stick, in an act of bravery widely hailed as saving Ogilvie's life.

News.Az 

By Ulviyya Salmanli