“That appears to be the peaceful proceedings over for the evening,” Ferguson told viewers. “What we’re seeing is burning barricades, burning buses, burning vehicles that are taking place but police, in the last hour, their statement still did mention it as sporadic pockets of disorder.
“Esssentially the police are asking anyone with influence, and that can be a wide range of actors in Northern Ireland, to desist from this sort of activity, but you also can’t discount the fact that because we’re into the summer months, and because rioting and this sort of violent activity tends to happen maybe annually and usually in the summer months, that there is a recreational element to this.”
On Tuesday evening, protestors gathered in response to the horrific knife attack, which took place on Monday evening on Kinnaird Avenue in north Belfast. After the Police Service for Northern Ireland (PSNI) confirmed that the alleged victim, a man in his 40s, remains in hospital in a serious condition, it was later revealed that a Sudanese man in his 30s had been taken into police custody.
Shortly after this information came to light, local MPs noted that they’d been made aware of planned protests that evening. Imploring those attending to remain calm, Justice Minister Naomi Long released a statement.
“The only people who will be harmed if there is unrest on our streets are innocent people. The only thing that will be achieved is further victims,” she said. “And so I’m asking for people to be calm, to be rational at a time when it is easy to be irrational, because you’re hurt, you’re upset, and you’re angry and because there are bad faith actors who want to stir trouble. It is not in the interests of anyone in Northern Ireland for us to see our community torn apart in these instances.”
