Belfast Riots
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On Monday night, a Sudanese immigrant allegedly attacked a man on the streets of Belfast in an attempt to decapitate him.

Bystanders intervened, as the story goes, the attack was stopped and the victim - named as one Stephen Ogilvie - survived having suffered severe injuries, including the loss of his left eye. He's reportedly in a medically induced coma.

The attacker was identified as 30-year-old Hadi Alodid. He was allegedly detained by police and taken to a local hospital where he received treatment for injuries to his hand. During this treatment, police report, the suspect threatened the life of a nurse.

Alodid appeared in court - via video link - earlier today, speaking through an Arabic translator and having refused legal representation. Bail was refused and he has been remanded in custody.

Those are the facts of the case so far - as reported in the media.

The fallout has been "Southport-style" riots in Belfast, resulting - again according to the media - in the burning of several vehicles and one house. Rioters were reportedly targeting houses they believed to house immigrants.

The victim's family has made the usual statement condemning violence and asking the attack not be politicised whilst praising the role of migrants in our society:
We want to say a profound thank you to the local people who bravely stepped in during the attack. Your quick actions absolutely saved his life, and we will never forget what you did for him in that moment. We also want to thank the emergency services and the doctors and nurses looking after him.

We are aware of the tensions and talk of protests following this incident. We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward.

We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector and we depend on them to make our country work. We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.
Politicians have been leapfrogging each other to make very predictable speeches on both sides of the issue, either citing "cultural incompatibility" and open borders or just "calling for restraint".

The timing of all of this is very interesting.

As we have covered in detail, the UK is in the midst of a "controversy" over social media - with the government moving to ban children from accessing it or bring in other tyrannical measures for the purposes of harvesting private data.

In a similar vein, five days ago, Labour's deputy Leader Lucy Powell was calling for a "misinformation clampdown" on social media.

On Saturday, Technology Secretary Liz Kendall was in the papers expressing "concern" over the role of social media during times of unrest, and wishing they could "do more" (our emphasis):
"I definitely think, particularly during moments of crisis and disorder and when public safety is important, we need to look at what more we can do."
On Monday, the think-tank Social Market Foundation published a new report on the dangers of misinformation, "No news is bad news: The hidden threat of unchecked local misinformation".

On Tuesday morning, it was reported that OfCom - newly empowered by the Online Safety Act - wanted social media giants to implement government-ordered "crisis protocols" to stop "illegal content going viral" during times of "national crisis" in order to reduce "the risk to public safety". They cited the recent unrest in Southampton over the Henry Dowak killing as an example.

By Tuesday evening, a "moment of crisis" had indeed begun in Belfast.

The riots have already been blamed on "dangerous misinformation", with high-ranking MPs calling for a crackdown on "hatred and violence" on social media...


Another in the long long line of fortuitous coincidences I suppose.

It's been a busy old week.

If anyone has good documentation about the progress and scale of these riots please feel welcome to post it here.