BELFAST: Sunflower seeds and burnt tins of ghee spill out from the charred facade of an ethnic minority-owned grocery store in Belfast attacked during anti-immigrant riots this week in and around the Northern Irish capital Belfast.
On Thursday Mohammad, the manager of the scorched Sham Supermarket, sat on the nearby curb dragging on a cigarette — a habit he has resumed amid the stress of recent days 11 years after quitting smoking.
“It’s all burnt, there’s nothing left,” he said of the store that sold Syrian and other produce.
Mohammad, who declined to give his surname over safety fears, came to Belfast from Syria in 2017, recalling how local people were welcoming when he first arrived.
“It’s become really bad in the last two to three years,” he told AFP, his voice shaking and the lingering smell of burnt plastic filling the air.
Violence spread across a number of Belfast neighborhoods late Tuesday, the night after harrowing footage emerged online of a man being brutally stabbed on a street just north of the city center.
Masked rioters torched vehicles, businesses and homes, with several residences belonging to immigrant families and multiple-occupancy homes associated with asylum accommodation targeted. Some areas then saw violence, though to a lesser extent, Wednesday night.
Sudanese refugee Hadi Alodid, 30, has been charged with attempted murder and other counts over Monday night’s shocking knife attack.
- ‘We are scared’ -
“We’ve had reports of people being stopped in their cars to be asked what their nationality is on their way to work,” the UK government’s Northern Ireland minister Hilary Benn told Sky News on Thursday. “This is completely unacceptable.”
Husnain, a 27-year-old student from Pakistan, feared violence in the wake of the stabbing video going viral online.
“This is the system, this will never end,” he said. “People do crimes, and we end up bearing the burden of that.”
According to the student, many of his Muslim friends and family have stayed home since the protests erupted.
“We are scared... We are living our life in hiding.”
The local mosque that he attends, the Belfast Islamic Center, closed its doors on Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time since it was founded nearly 50 years ago, its chairman Mohammed Arshed said.
“Things are a bit tense,” Arshed told AFP.
The 73-year-old and others noted the immigrant population in Belfast has grown rapidly in recent years and “that might have worried people.”
“But there’s absolutely no need for that because most people that come in are peaceful people,” Arshed said.
- ‘Rebuild again’ -
Stores, cafes and restaurants were tentatively reopening Thursday after nearly two days shut on the advice of authorities and following threats from agitators.
One ethnic minority restaurant owner, who declined to be identified, said he closed early Wednesday after being warned to do so by some locals, and would close again Thursday if trouble arose.
An image threatening all business in certain areas of Belfast to close early has circulated online each day since the protests began, shared by far-right accounts and others.
Sultan, the 25-year-old son of the Sham Supermarket owner, said another shop that he runs has been closed since unrest began Tuesday.
“It’s affecting all businesses... local people, also innocent people, businesses,” said Sultan. “People are losing money every minute.”
He added the damage to Sham Supermarket — which was also targeted in anti-immigrant protests in 2024 — could run to hundreds of thousands of pounds after a proportion of their stocks were burnt beyond recognition.
As Sultan spoke, another employee removed and discarded charred containers of meat.
“You can’t explain the feelings,” he added. “But hopefully we can continue and rebuild again. Life is not gonna stop.”
