Hundreds of protesters, many wearing masks, gathered in several parts of the Northern Ireland capital. A bus and several cars were set alight, roads were blocked and a building near the city centre caught fire, forcing residents to evacuate.

Police helicopters flew overhead as officers responded to unrest across the city. Crowds also gathered in Antrim, about 25 kilometres west of Belfast.

"By 7:30pm they started a fire in the bins... we heard police cars and sirens," said Eemran, an engineer of Indian origin who has lived in Belfast for just over a year.

"More and more people started coming, they started throwing petrol bombs. Suddenly the fire started going... we had smoke inside the building... fire people came in and they said 'go down'."

The unrest was described as frightening by a 36-year-old Chilean woman who moved to Belfast a month ago.

"Of course I'm not used to it," said Camila. "I understand the people's rage but also there are ways of discussing these things more peacefully."

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Political reaction

The violence was condemned by Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill, who appealed for calm.

"Groups of masked men burning families out of their homes is nothing less than disgusting cowardice," she wrote on X.

The stabbing was condemned by Northern Ireland's five main political parties.

"There is no place in our society for this kind of brutality," the parties said in a joint statement.

The attack was "horrific" and "sickening", Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on X.

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Suspect charged

A 30-year-old man was charged late on Tuesday with attempted murder, possession of a bladed weapon in a public place and making threats to kill. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday.

He is a Sudanese refugee with a residence permit valid until 2028, the UK interior ministry confirmed.

The man arrived in the UK in 2023 via Paris and Dublin, Northern Ireland police chief Jon Boutcher said.

The victim, a man in his 40s, suffered significant injuries to his eyes and serious slash wounds to his back and face, police said.

"We're just living in fear now," a 31-year-old mother who lives nearby told the French news agency AFP.

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Spreading tensions

Tensions were already high after violent skirmishes last week in Southampton, southern England, over the police handling of the murder of a young white student stabbed to death by a British Sikh man.

Dozens of demonstrators also gathered there on Tuesday outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, carrying banners reading "no racism, just patriotism" and "enough is enough".

"Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change!!" US tech billionaire Elon Musk wrote while reposting a message from anti-immigration activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson.

Immigration has become a major political issue in Britain and has helped fuel the rise of the hard-right Reform UK party in the polls.

(with newswires)

Originally published on RFI