A sizeable number of about a thousand individuals joined a demonstration against racism in central Belfast on a Friday afternoon, countering a comparatively smaller protest against immigration. The area around City Hall, teeming with law enforcers, leveraged police Landrovers to maintain separation between the two protest groups.
Approximately 200 individuals, displaying Union Jacks and signs asserting their resistance to illegal immigration, marked their participation in the anti-immigration rally. In comparison, the counter-protesters significantly outnumbered them, bearing placards with union symbols, anti-racism phrases, and the message ‘Refugees Welcome’, along with the Palestinian flag.
Temporary blockades were enforced around notable areas such as City Hall, Chichester Street, and the Donegall Square sectors, as reactions to the protests, but these were subsequently lifted. Amidst the ongoing demonstrations, police reported the charging of six additional individuals for related offences and the arrest of a 61-year-old man under suspicion of incitement to riot.
Edwin Poots, a DUP Assembly member and Speaker, whose office is located in Belfast’s Sandy Row, where assaults on businesses and cops had occurred earlier in the week, called for tranquillity, prudence and discouragement of any kind of violence.
Ahead of the weekend’s planned protests and countermeets in Belfast, the PSNI stated that a strategic and extensive policing approach had been planned.
Previous incidences of disturbance in the city, with a run of five successive nights of disorder as of Thursday, were acknowledged by the PSNI. They addressed numerous occurrences of race-related hate crimes, including property damage in South Belfast and assaults on police in East Belfast on Flora Street by a group of camouflaged men flinging bricks. Islamic-owned businesses and cafés in South Belfast were the targets last weekend after anti-immigration demonstrators staged a counter-meeting amid an anti-racism rally outside Belfast City Hall.
Further rallies are expected in Belfast’s city centre come Friday afternoon, with an anti-racism march scheduled for Saturday. Plans for Friday’s protest in Derry, initially organised by anti-racism rally planners, have been cancelled following affirmations that an opposing anti-immigration congregation has also been called off.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Melanie Jones, during a press briefing on Friday, highlighted that significant resources were being mobilised in downtown Belfast. She revealed that the city centre was anticipating two different demonstrations; one starting from 4:30pm and the other from 5pm. She reassured that strategic plans and tactics were being put in place to ensure public engagement, clear communication with those in attendance, and firm knowledge of what constitutes legal and peaceful protest was established. She added that contingencies had also been put in place to prevent any eruption of chaos as seen in the previous Saturday’s protest.
Several Belfast businesses had opted not to open on Friday, with others planning to shut early before the protest begins. Additionally, Queen’s University had chosen to close its campuses. Regarding these closures, Ms Jones confirmed that the police were cognizant of inaccurate information circling on social media regarding advice to local workers, assuring that PSNI had not issued such advice.
She underscored the crucial importance of supporting local businesses to operate normally. Asserting that any decision to close early or halt services was entirely the businesses’ own, she affirmed that a significant policing force was active to maintain peace.
In connection with the past disturbances, Ms Jones pointed out that so far, PSNI had made 23 arrests with charges filed against 15 individuals. She warned that additional arrests were likely to follow.
Ms Jones confirmed the expected arrival of approximately 120 extra officers from Police Scotland on Tuesday. She further noted that starting immediately, their officers have been granted extended authority to enforce stop-and-search procedures or mandate the removal of face masks.
Ms Jones expressed that the unrest seen was a mixed blend of calculated and random violence. She said an individual arm of the criminal investigation was committed to uncovering this organisation and orchestrating observed majorly in the digital realm. She assured that the culprits would be identified and prosecuted. She also commented on the sporadic disturbances that they are adequately equipped to manage promptly and efficiently.
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