Northern Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long said social media agitators who “yesterday would have struggled to find Belfast on a map” were “weaponising” the fears of local people.

“If you’re driving people from their homes based on nothing but the colour of their skin, you can’t dress that up any other way, it’s racism, and those bad faith actors need to take a step back,” she told the BBC.

Questions about the Irish border

Some politicians said the stabbing should spark a review of the open border between Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK, and the Republic of Ireland.

The border is a highly sensitive issue. Allowing the free flow of people back and forth is a major pillar of the peace process that largely ended decades of violence known as “The Troubles.” The conflict involving Irish Republican and British Loyalist militants and UK security forces left almost 3,600 people dead before a 1998 peace accord.

Much of Tuesday’s violence took place in working-class areas where former paramilitary groups still hold considerable sway over the streets.

Last week a separate case of a university student who was stabbed to death in Southampton, England in December was seized on by activists and US Vice President JD Vance, who blamed immigration for the violence.

Henry Nowak, who was white, was killed by Vickrum Digwa, a Sikh who falsely claimed to police that he was the victim of a racist assault by Nowak. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded Nowak as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.

Digwa was convicted of murder for stabbing Nowak with a Sikh dagger and sentenced last week to life in prison with a minimum 21-year term. But the case has spurred heated debates about policing and race, and a protest over Nowak’s death turned violent with some attacking police with chairs and rocks. Several people were charged with violent disorder over the protest.

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