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A group of men in Belfast have surrounded and attacked two cars and forced their drivers to flee in suspected racially motivated hate crimes.
At least a dozen men, some masked, targeted the motorists on Monday evening near Connswater retail park in what appeared to be the latest incident in a vigilante campaign against migrants in the east of the city.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said it was investigating both incidents as racially motivated hate crimes.
Northern Ireland’s justice minister, Naomi Long, said anti-migrant sentiment in the region was growing and that racism and sectarianism were linked. “I would also urge people not to get involved in this despicable behaviour,” she said. “You will be held to account and the penalties could include a prison sentence. As a society, we must not stand by and tolerate racism or intimidation.”
Shortly before the incidents a crowd had gathered at the retail park to protest against the prosecution of a man charged with inciting hatred earlier this month.
Video footage shared on social media showed a group surrounding a silver-coloured car at Factory Street, adjacent to the retail park.
Police said the driver left the vehicle “in fear” and that the crowd reportedly damaged it. “A further report was received that the driver of a navy-coloured car was confronted by the group but managed to drive off. There were no reports to any injuries to the driver or damage to the vehicle at this time,” the PSNI said.
Officers had gathered evidence and would review the video footage to determine whether any offences had been committed, police said. “There will be an increased policing presence in the area, with officers continuing to engage with relevant partner agencies.”
Police said “self-appointed patrols”, a reference to vigilantes, would not be tolerated.
Deirdre Hargey, a Sinn Féin assembly member, called the incidents deplorable. “This is yet another example of the disgusting, sporadic racist violence which we have seen across the city,” she said.
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A simmering campaign against foreigners and people of colour in Belfast and other parts of county Antrim has escalated since the anti-migrant riots in England last year.
Groups have put up threatening posters, smashed property and burned homes, forcing families to flee. A group of vigilantes calling itself the Belfast Nightwatch First Division and styling itself as a defender of women and children, challenges dark-skinned men to produce identity documents and explanations for their presence in the east of the city.
The Belfast Telegraph reported on Wednesday that one of the vigilantes had been convicted of the attempted murder of a 14-year-old child, another was a convicted loyalist killer, and a third was a convicted armed robber.
