Northern Ireland unrest shocks Muslim community, Raises fears of widening sectarian divides

A week of racism-fuelled disorder in Northern Ireland, sparked by disturbances in English towns and cities, is proving harder to end, with fears the UK region's sectarian divisions are feeding into the violence.

"They burned every single thing, there is nothing left inside, just ashes," said Bashir, whose supermarket in Belfast was torched during attacks against foreign-owned shops and businesses.

A mosque in a town near Belfast was also targeted late Friday.

"We are scared at what may happen next, there is lots of hostility against the Muslim community," said the 28-year-old from Dubai, who did not want to give his full name citing safety reasons.

Northern Ireland has seen nightly unrest, mainly in pro-UK loyalist neighbourhoods, that began after an anti-immigration protest in Belfast on August 3.

The violence has mirrored disorder across England, spurred by misinformation spread on social media about the suspected perpetrator of a knife attack in Southport on July 29 which killed three children.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said Saturday that 31 people have been arrested during the disturbances.

"On a fundamental level the Belfast attacks are similar in its dynamic to anti-immigration protests in white working class areas in England, the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere in Europe," said Peter McLoughlin, a politics lecturer at Queens University Belfast.

"It is driven by racism and fear of the other, but in Northern Ireland it also interfaces with sectarian political dynamics," he told AFP.

 'Under attack'  

Three decades of violent sectarian conflict known as the "Troubles" largely ended in 1998, but bitterness and frictions persist between pro-UK Protestant loyalists and pro-Irish unity Catholic nationalists.

Outside Bashir's smoke-scarred shopfront in the staunchly loyalist inner-city district of Sandy Row, British Union Jack flags flutter on lampposts and painted wall murals proclaim fierce allegiance to the UK.

"Within loyalism there is a sense that prevailed through Northern Ireland's peace process that their community is in retreat, that their community and British identity is under attack," McLoughlin explained.

Many loyalists feel they "must oppose outsiders coming into those areas, who are seen as taking supposedly Protestant jobs and houses, and encroaching on a community that was once dominant," he added.

After last Saturday's anti-immigration protest, rioters rampaged through streets looking for foreign-owned businesses to attack.

"What happened last week was crazy," Yilmaz Batu, a 64-year-old Turkish chef who has been living in Northern Ireland for two years, told AFP.

"There was never any trouble before," he said, sitting at the Sahara Shisha Cafe, one of several Middle Eastern and Turkish-owned businesses near Sandy Row that were hit.

The Northern Ireland Muslim Council said in a statement that "the vast majority of the violence has been whipped up and fuelled by deliberate misinformation and disinformation on social media".

"False and dangerous narratives" about Muslims who "constitute a small minority in Northern Ireland" led to the attacks, it added.

 'Extremely shocking' 

 Northern Ireland has low rates of immigration compared to the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The 2021 census showed about six percent of the population were born outside the UK or Ireland, with around 97 percent describing their ethnicity as white.

The disorder was "extremely shocking for the wider community," said Fiona Doran, chair of the United Against Racism group which co-organised a solidarity rally in Belfast on Saturday.

The demonstration, which drew several thousand people, gave people "a chance to come out on the streets, to show that Belfast is a welcoming city, it's a city that says no to racism and fascism," she told AFP.

At an anti-immigration rally the previous day in Belfast, around a hundred protestors carried British flags and placards reading "respect our country or leave!"

Some chanted the name of Tommy Robinson, a notorious anti-Muslim agitator who has been accused of helping to fuel the unrest in England through constant social media posts about the events.

Nearby, behinds ranks of armoured police vehicles, more than 1,000 counter-protestors chanted "racists out!"

Bashir told AFP on Saturday he is unsure if he will reopen his supermarket.

"My question is: are we able to do that? If we do, it will be because of all the people who came out to show us support," he said following the solidarity demonstration.