STORY: Crowds gathered in Belfast on Saturday (June 13) for an anti-racism protest after days of unrest in the Northern Irish capital saw property, businesses and vehicles come under attack.

Violence flared on Tuesday (June 9) following a knife attack for which a Sudanese man has been charged with attempted murder. That evening, masked groups moved through parts of Belfast, setting fire to houses and cars and targeting ethnic minorities. Smaller outbreaks of unrest followed on Wednesday, with fears the violence could continue in the coming days.

Britain's minister for Northern Ireland said the anti-migrant attacks were "racist thuggery."

Northern Ireland endured three decades of conflict between mainly Catholic Irish nationalists and predominantly Protestant pro-British loyalists. In recent years, some community organizers say, sectarian tensions have increasingly been replaced by hostility towards ethnic minorities.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 13, 2026) (REUTERS - Access All)

1. PEOPLE BANGING ON DRUMS

2. VARIOUS OF ACTIVISTS HOLDING UP BANNER READING (English): “No Borders”

3. VARIOUS OF WOMAN HOLDING UP PLACARD READING (English): “They Are Us”

4. PEOPLE HOLDING UP FLAGS AND BANNERS IN FRONT OF STAGE

5. WOMEN SINGING

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTIVIST, PADRAIG MAC NIOCAILL, 30, SAYING (English):

“These people were silent when women were attacked over the years, when there's been murders, when there's been assaults. They have not stood up for our health service, they have not stood up for our water service. They are only silent because, ahem, they're only raising their voice now because they've been whipped up to hate by the likes of Elon Musk, Nigel Farage and other agitators. So we're here today to show that there's no space at all for hate in Belfast, nor anywhere in the North. These people do not care about communities, they've been silent on standing up for communities. All they want to do is to bring hate and division, import it into our island and we say no today."

7. WOMAN SITTING ON PERSON'S SHOULDERS WITH BANNERS AND PLACARDS BEHIND

8. PERSON HOLDING UP PLACARD READING (English): "Tolerating racism is racism"

9. ACTIVISTS CHANTING ALONG WITH PERSON ON STAGE (English): "Worker rights are migrant rights! Same struggle, same fight! Worker rights are migrant rights!"

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) ARTIST AND ACTIVIST, ERIN MCMANUS, 24, SAYING:

"It is like, within these times, it does bring you back and you can't help but wonder [that it might be] a little bit of history repeating itself. And as somebody who has been burnt out of their home for simply being a Catholic woman, and like, from the age of two, and having a Catholic family, being burnt out of their own home, I can't help but feel that there is bigotry towards us. There is a lot of hatred towards us as built up against the community. But it only, in this kind of regards, I do feel fearful for the people but at the same time, it's like the best time where I see people showing up for other people."

11. PEOPLE ON STAGE GESTURING TOWARDS CROWD

12. CROWD / FLAGS, BANNERS