Belfast knife attack victim's condition improving, says DUP leader

The condition of the victim of the knife attack in north Belfast on Monday evening is "improving", the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson has said.

Robinson has confirmed that he met the family of Stephen Ogilvie who asked him to share the update.

The attack on Ogilvie, which left him with serious injuries, including losing an eye, sparked protests and violence across Northern Ireland on Tuesday and Wednesday.

PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said there was "no evidence" the disorder was coordinated by loyalist paramilitaries. Twelve police officers were injured and 16 arrests were made following the second night of trouble.

In a video on social media, the PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said Tuesday evening saw: "An escalation of disorder in Northern Ireland that has not been seen here to those levels since the worst possible days of the troubles, racist, mindless, vile thugs."

A 30-year-old Sudanese man appeared in Belfast Magistrates' Court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder in relation to the initial attack.

Robinson said that the victim's family hopes he will be released from an induced coma in the next 24 to 48 hours.

He said at that stage, assessments will be made about his sight and other injuries he suffered in the attack.

The DUP leader said it was important that "misinformation" is challenged, adding that he hoped that the "tide is turning" when it comes to stopping further disorder.

"Last night you could see violence was waning and I hope the message from the Ogilvies and others that violence should stop is starting to sink in."

In a statement, Robinson called for "urgent action" to address growing concerns about border security.

A clean up operation is continuing after disorder on Wednesday night which was mainly concentrated along one street in Glengormley - just outside of Belfast - where police deployed water cannon and fired baton rounds.

The group gathered close to the Sandyknowes roundabout and individuals were seen throwing missiles at the police and setting bins alight.

On Thursday, Translink suspended all bus services in and out of Belfast from 17:30 BST.

The last rail services will operate on or before 20:15 from Grand Central Station.

A reduced timetable will operate this evening on Enterprise services and other bus services outside of Belfast are expected to run largely as normal.

There was also some trouble in Portadown, County Armagh, which resulted in boarded up windows.

Two people have been charged with a number of offences in relation to that.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said they received 82 emergency calls on Wednesday night, with crews attending 33 incidents across Northern Ireland.

The incidents included vehicles, a house, a derelict building and bins being set on fire.

During a news conference on Thursday, ACC Henderson said there had been "significant coordination from online social media activity".

"That momentum, that drive, that toxicity is what's bringing people out onto the streets. It needs to stop," he said.

"This violent behaviour by a thuggish minority will not be tolerated."

He said there have been no arrests over social media content, but that police were "actively patrolling areas" that have been shared online and "seeking out bad actors".

"I want to say directly to the big social media companies, if you're hosting material content on your sites that is encouraging disorder, that needs to stop."

Henderson warned water cannon would again be deployed on Thursday night, alongside additional police and public order dogs.

"We will be robust in bringing order to our streets," he said.

Henderson said he will be speaking to health trusts, unions and minority communities.

He said "we should all listen to the words" of the family of victim Stephen Ogilvie after they issued a statement on Wednesday calling for calm.

"They could not be more clear that violence is not in Stephen's name," he said.

"The streets of Northern Ireland need to return to calm and order."

A number of people tried to intervene when Ogilvie was attacked.

One man, Maitiu Mág Tighearnán, was seen wielding a hurling stick, as he tried to help the victim.

He said he had dropped his son off at hurling practice when he saw what he thought was a fight on the road.

He and a friend got the hurling stick from the boot of the car and Mág Tighearnán told ITV's Good Morning Britain programme his "instinct then was just to run straight across".

"There's a man lying there, I just heard 'he's being stabbed', there was blood everywhere. The first thing is that man needs help so it's a natural reaction for me and most people that I know would also do the same."

He said while people have described what he did as "heroic", he said for him it was a "natural reaction that took place at that time".

Police have released a number of images of people they would like to identify following the disorder.

Meanwhile, some 200 mutual aid officers will be on the ground from Thursday, a day after Chief Constable Jon Boutcher insisted those responsible for the disorder will be dealt with.

Secretary of State Hilary Benn has said "nothing justifies" the violence Northern Ireland has experienced in the last 48 hours, regardless of concerns people may have about immigration.

He was speaking after holding talks with the five largest parties at Stormont on Thursday.

Unionist parties have called for the government to do more when it comes to protecting borders and removing illegal migrants from Northern Ireland.

Benn said the government is working to enhance its enforcement operations which are carried out at ports, airports, bus and rail routes.

"We are putting in funding to provide more of that activity, more arrests, more raids, more detentions," said Benn.

But he maintained that while people are entitled to their views, it does not justify the "appalling" scenes witnessed in parts of Northern Ireland this week.

First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the disorder that has unfolded is "pure racism".

She said it could not be overlooked that much of the unrest had happened "in the main in loyalist communities", but she also criticised those "online bad actors for orchestrating hate and fear".

Asked about concerns raised by unionist parties about immigration and how to manage it via the Irish border, O'Neill accused the DUP of "spewing rhetoric and reverting to type by talking about hard borders on the island of Ireland".

She also repeated her support for minority and ethnic communities, saying she had gone to meet some healthcare workers, adding that what has unfolded needs to be "called out for what it is".

Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said those who have been engaging in disorder across Belfast are "only destroying their own communities and the cause they claim to support".

Little-Pengelly told BBC Breakfast that while people in Northern Ireland and across the UK have concerns around immigration and vetting, people are "trying to use those genuinely held concerns in the wider community to try to bring that disorder and violence, and indeed at times racism to the streets of Belfast".

"My message is very clear to those people who are intent on doing so – they do absolutely nothing to support the cause of getting those issues amplified."

The UUP leader, Jon Burrows, said any debate about immigration needed to be done in a "respectful way".

"Closing the border is a cliche, I don't use language like 'alien invaders', I don't think it helps. There are smart ways of policing borders to keep people safe," he added.

The leader of the SDLP, Claire Hanna, said there was a "toxic mix" of "online radicalisation and agitators rotting people's brains with hateful content".

She pointed to "structural problems" within communities that include loyalist paramilitaries and said it was allowing messages to be "perpetuated at a local level... stoking people's worst fears".

Alliance deputy leader Eóin Tennyson said his party was urging the government to crack down on those who spread disinformation online, in light of the recent disorder.

He said there had been a "clear attempt" by some in the online sphere to "fan the flames of division" and that there must be "consequences".