Belfast knife attack and rioting thrust Northern Ireland into global spotlight with US right-wingers among those weighing in - while Starmer pledges to 'crack down' on spread of 'division'
The events of Monday and Tuesday nights have led to Northern Ireland being on the lips of journalists and activists across the globe.
In particular, both the knife attack in north Belfast and the subsequent street violence have become a major talking point for right-wing commentators, especially in the USA.
Meanwhile in the Commons yesterday Lib Dem leader Ed Davey condemned “extremists” who seek to “exploit... grief and anger to spread hatred and violence, aided and abetted by social media barons like Elon Musk and their divisive algorithms” – leading Prime Minister Keir Starmer to reply that he will “crack down on anyone who is fuelling this division” (though he did not say what form this ‘crackdown’ will take).
Monday’s knife attack and/or its aftermath have been covered by news outlets including Fox News and CNN in the USA, the ABC in Australia, and in several articles by Al Jazeera.
New York-based Time magazine (@TIME) tweeted out to its 18.5m X followers an article entitled: “’Masked men burning families out of their homes’: Belfast protests erupt after knife attack”.
As for individual figures, Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo, 1.8m followers) – who gained fame for covering riots by Antifa in the USA – posted online: “I’m speaking to my Northern Irish sources to get more context about the reaction to the attack.
“One Belfast source told me, ‘You don’t f— around in Northern Ireland.’
“Unlike in England, where civil unrest and mass violence is not in the collective memory, it is in Northern Ireland.
“People there have a recent experience of policing themselves and taking violent and deadly extrajudicial actions.
“The June 8 beheading attempt happened in a very white working class Catholic anti-monarchist area of north Belfast.”
American right-wing figure Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog, 4m followers) wrote in response to the attack: “Nobody can explain how mass migration from the third world has benefited the west.
“Even the advocates of these policies cannot explain its benefits.
“That's because there is no benefit and they know it.
“Death, dysfunction, and horrors beyond comprehension. That's all it brings us.”
Fellow US right-winger Megyn Kelly (a former Fox News host who has 3.6m followers on X) tweeted out a segment of her show in which the Belfast attack was discussed.
She praised the intervention of bystanders in the Belfast attack, such as the man with the hurling stick, saying: “It’s only thanks to those people that this man is alive today.”
She went on to add: “It’s been happening all over the UK, including Northern Ireland, where they’ve been complaining now about increased crime on the streets.
“Streets that used to be like beautiful tourist attractions are now covered with drug dealers and homelessness.”
She went on to speak of “people from other countries – Somalia is one of them, Sudan is another – who have no shared values with the people in the UK”.
US right-winger Jack Posobiec (@JackPosobiec, 3.2m followers) tweeted in response to the attack: “Remigration MUST commence.”
Conservative Polish MEP Dominik Tarczynski (@D_Tarczynski, 438,000 followers) tweeted an image of the Belfast attack alongside one of Henry Nowak being arrested, and said: “Europe 2026 in two pictures. Mass deportations NOW!”
And, as already reported, US-based serial tycoon Elon Musk tweeted to his 240m followers: “Only by protesting REPEATEDLY and LOUDLY will there be any change.”
Mr Musk also retweeted comments from the UK MP Rupert Lowe, of the party Restore Britain.
“Only Restore Britain can save Britain,” wrote Mr Musk. “It is the only way.”
Among the comments Mr Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10, 819k followers) made to his followers in the wake of the Belfast attack was: “A Restore Britain Government will aim to prosecute officials and politicians who knowingly placed dangerous third world savages in our communities.”
His chief rival, Reform’s Nigel Farage, has been less vocal about it, but wrote on X (@Nigel_Farage, 2.2m followers): “What happened in Belfast last night is horrific.”
UK-based anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson (@TRobinsonNewEra, 2m followers) has issued a constant stream of tweets about the attack and its aftermath, including: “Belfast is burning. Britain's politicians have failed us all.”
Meanwhile Irish UFC fighter Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA, 10.5m followers) tweeted out a picture of the attack too, along with the sarcastic message: “Say it loud say it clear, refugees are welcome here.”