An anti-immigration protest in Belfast on Saturday led to violent protests, resulting in damage to Mohammed Idris’ Bash café. Idris said he will not reopen the café after its second attack in recent years. Last year, his computer repair shop on Sandy Row in Belfast was completely destroyed. The protests grew violent when a group of people “shouted my name, ‘Where is Mohammed?’ , then they smashed all windows on the ground floor,” Idris said. Later, his café was set on fire. Idris has been living in Belfast since 2002 and said that life has become “more difficult” in recent years.
Bashir, a supermarket manager in the same area, also suffered from the damage incurred by the violent protests. The shop has been completely destroyed, and although it is the third time the supermarket has been attacked, Bashir said “nothing” has been done to protect them. Social media played a role in the riots, with Bashir criticising social media for giving the wrong idea about the community. “If the police could do something, they would have done it from the first time when this shop was burned,” he added.
Northern Ireland has historically seen low migration rates. With less than 4% of the population having been born outside the UK or Ireland, almost 97% of people describe their ethnicity as white. In 1972, the peak year for net emigration was almost 24,000 people. The most recent figures are for 2022, showing net migration of 2,300 people. Of those, there was net emigration of 2,700 people to other parts of the UK, but net immigration of 5,000 people from the rest of the world
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