From Belfast: As I watch my city burn, I think of the far right spreading poison

The far right has lit the match and now they’re watching my city burn.

I am from North Belfast, born and bred, and watching what’s been unfolding on the streets since Monday night’s brutal knife attack is horrifying.

Thoughts are of course foremost with the victim. We wish him and his family well after such a dreadful and traumatic incident. A 30-year-old is before the courts today and the justice system must be left to take its course.

But the subsequent violence in the city and beyond cannot be justified.

You could feel the tension building all day. When details emerged of what had happened and police and politicians were appealing for calm, it was clear that some people were intent on violence.

Businesses shut up early and workers were told to head for home in anticipation of those who knew the pleas would later go unheeded.

It started peacefully. There were police everywhere. Men, women and children took to the streets to make their voices heard.

But as the sun went down and the familiar Belfast rain started to fall, the mood turned sinister.

As I drove through my hometown, I was blocked by burning barricades and armoured police Land Rovers. Police sirens were all around, and a helicopter hovered over me. Instructions from police to people outside could be heard nearby.

At the time of writing, the city was ablaze with violence. Thugs were roaming the streets, many covering their faces. Transport was shut down as a bus was one of dozens of vehicles set on fire. Flames were seen coming from doors and windows of terrified people’s homes.

There have long been outbreaks of widespread street disorder and sectarian violence in Belfast, but the anger has been redirected towards immigration. Northern Ireland is the least ethnically diverse region of the UK.

Right-thinking people are horrified by more than one thing that is happening. They are appalled by Monday’s knife attack and also appalled by the negative, damaging and dangerous scenes that have flowed from it. Racists, online and in person, including politicians, have been showing us all what their real agenda is.

Far-right online figures, racist elements in England and the US have used Monday’s events to justify spreading their poison.

People who know nothing of Belfast and probably have never been here are using what has happened to their own advantage.

Whether that is politicians speaking out of both sides of their mouths or online scumbags cynically capitalising on events to try to make a point.

The “protect our women and girls” crowd have thought nothing of being all sorts of abusive to journalists like me.

It is so depressing to see burning barricades and to know that non-white people are in fear for their lives because casually racist characters online and in the real world are frothing at the mouth to spread their hate.

Disorder like this is not unique to Northern Ireland.

Our emergency services may be more used to dealing with it but just like when we see violence in Cardiff, Dublin, Edinburgh and London it is not representative of all the people of each city or the wider society as a whole.

You also have to take into consideration that the violence we have seen is – for some – a recreational summer pastime, as obscene as that sounds.

We Irish have made our homes all over the world for hundreds of years because of famine, conflict, economic opportunity, love and even just better weather.

There is a reason there is an Irish pub in every country in the world.

There is a reason so many people globally claim Irish heritage.

You simply don’t get to be racist and Irish, though some of our citizens are giving it a good go.

I have had countless discussions in recent days with people about violence, poverty, housing, policing, racism, sectarianism and more.

And those conversations will continue.

As I type and the rain is getting heavier, I travel in hope over experience that the violence will stop.

Amanda Ferguson is a freelance journalist from north Belfast who has been reporting on the area for 16 years