Northern Ireland immigration riots: Generous donors raise almost £100,000 online to help stricken businesses get back on their feet
Generous donors have raised almost £100,000 to support businesses in Belfast which were destroyed by rioters at the weekend.
Several businesses were attacked following violence which erupted in Belfast after anti-immigration protests on Saturday.
Three police officers were injured in the disorder.
Four men were due to appear in Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Monday on charges linked to the violence.
On www.gofundme.com almost a page entitled 'Help repair racially motivated damages' has already raised almost £90,000.
Organised by Stephen Montgomery, he said that "with the outstanding generosity of donors we are now able to help many businesses in our communities that were affected by the hateful protests on Saturday in Belfast".
He said the money would go to support the businesses Sahara Shish Cafe, Tzatziki, Layalina, Bash Cafe, Turkish Barbers Botanic, Frankie House and Sham Market.
A crowdfunding page on www.justgiving.com for 'Sham Supermarket' on the Donegal Road has also raised £3,600 so far towards a target of £25,000 to support the family which owns the business.
The shop and its contents were totally destroyed by rioters on Saturday.
However Mohammed Idris, who owns one of the businesses due to benefit from the fundraising - Bash café, in south Belfast - says he will not reopen after his business was set alight."It's not easy to stay here—more for my life and my safety; I can't try over and over again with the same result," he told BBC News NI.
He said his computer shop on Sandy Row was also targeted last year."My computer shop was completely damaged just like this café. This café was a hope, a place for a community - there is no hope here now."Mr Idris was in his cafe when his windows were smashedRecounting the night his cafe was attacked he says a group of people "shouted my name, 'Where is Mohammed?' then they smashed all windows on the ground floor."
However, he told BBC News NI that the worst came overnight when his business was set on fire.
"For me it’s not easy - it is so difficult when they know your name. It’s scary - my life threatened. A group of people coming - shouting my name, just people who came from different areas."
Mohammed Idris has lived in Belfast since 2002, but says living here has become "more difficult" in recent years.
"We have to make our life here, but now all our friends, everyone is asking 'where do we go now?'
"We come from different countries - there are wars in our countries - what do we do now?"
The owner of a cafe on Botanic Avenue in Belfast also told the Nolan Show of how he held the front door of his cafe closed to protect staff and customers as hundreds of people outside shouted abuse and hurled bottles at him.
Rami is the owner of Sahara Shisha Cafe on Botanic which serves Mediterranean food.
"I closed the door and after [they] started throwing chairs, tables, everything [at his premises]," he said.
The cost of the damage to his premises will be about £15,000 for three damaged doors, windows, tables and glasses.
"I was holding the door. I didn't let them in," he said.
"They threw bottles, chairs and tables at me, but I want to really [guard the] safety of my staff and safety of my customers. I tell everybody, 'run on the back door' and I hold them on the door. It was pretty much risky, but that's all I can do."
He described the incident as "chaos".
There were "hundreds" of people outside his shop and "bottles were coming from everywhere" he said.
"One of them hit my stomach."
He has three doors at the front of his cafe and was focussed on holding one closed while bottles were hitting him through another.
The rioters were shouting racist abuse and telling him to "go home".
But he said he has lived here for 35 years and all his friends and family are in Northern Ireland, with all his children having been born here.
He no longer has any friends in Turkey, he said.
"It was brutal ... I was just concentrating [on] the door," he said.
Nobody was able to enter but the big shop front window and the door was shaking.
If they had tried to get in once more, he said, he is sure they would have got inside the shop.
Asked if he was frightened, he said the experience was "terrible" and like a "bad dream".
He has not told his children about the experience but his 18-year-old daughter asked him about it.
However, he does plan to reopen once again.
Donations to the two appeals can be made at the following links: