LONDON — U.K.leaders called for calm Tuesday after the arrest of a Sudanese man accused of trying to kill a man in a vicious stabbing on a Belfast street sparked fiery anti-immigration protests because the suspect is an asylum seeker.The victim, a man in his 40s, was taken to the hospital with serious injuries to his eyes, face and back after he was attacked late Monday in north Belfast in Northern Ireland, police said.The suspect, 30, who was not named, was held in custody and charged with attempted murder, possession of a knife in a public place and making threats to kill.
A kitchen knife was found at the scene.Police were trying to determine the motive, but there was no information to suggest the attack caught on video was terrorism-related, said Ryan Henderson, assistant chief constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland.He added that police were not seeking other suspects."This brutal attack will have sent shock waves through the community, causing real concern," he said.Northern Ireland's leaders and chief constable urged people not to incite hate and fear or target particular communities after reports that protests were planned.Protesters in black hoodies, some wearing masks, torched a bus in east Belfast, and cars and trash bins were set ablaze as groups gathered in other parts of the city.At the other end of the U.K., demonstrators marched in Southampton, England, where the recent sentencing of a man who killed a university student with a knife led to violent clashes with police last week.Although the victim and convicted killer were both British, protesters stood outside a Southampton hotel that had housed asylum seekers, holding signs that said "Illegal Migration Is Destroying Our Civilisation."The Belfast attack sparked immediate questions about the suspect's immigration status, including from some politicians.
Gavin Robinson, the leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, urged authorities to curb "uncontrolled immigration."Northern Ireland's c...