Police blast water cannons at Belfast protesters as unrest flares again after stabbing

Police blasted water cannons Wednesday at protesters in Northern Ireland who set small fires and hurled bricks, rocks and bottles at them during a second night of violence over a brutal stabbing on a Belfast street.Demonstrators wearing masks tore bricks from the walls outside homes and smashed sidewalks with sledgehammers to toss at riot police.In one place, the unruly crowd used sections of a dismantled picket fence to take cover on the street.The clashes with police came several hours after a 30-year-old man from Sudan appeared in a Belfast court charged with attempted murder in a stabbing attack that left a man seriously injured and triggered anti-immigrant violence.Hadi Alodid, 30, was ordered held in jail after appearing by video in Belfast Magistrates’ Court, where a detective said he blinded Stephen Ogilvie in the left eye during the knife attack.He was also charged with possessing a knife and threatening to kill a radiographer while being treated for a hand injury after the assault.When police arrived at the crime scene, they found Alodid on the man, armed with a kitchen knife, the detective said.

Alodid later told hospital staff: “I’ve killed someone, I don’t know if they are dead,” and said, “I will kill you.”He refused legal representation through an Arabic interpreter and did not enter a plea.Police were prepared for more violence after masked men on Tuesday set fire to several homes they believed to house immigrants, burned trash bins, torched a Belfast bus and pelted police with objects.Firefighters rescued several people from burning houses and more than two dozen people were left homeless.Anselme Shima, a Belfast resident originally from Congo, said he saw smoke from burning vehicles near his home.“I’ve lived on my street for almost 10 years, I have a good relationship with my neighbors, but last night was a horrific one,” he said.“We don’t know what to do.

I’m scared.Seeing this, I’m wondering if I’m next.”Famil...