Debate contribution: Racially Motivated Riots

Debate contribution by Mr Gerry Carroll on 15 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Gerry Carroll

Party at the time

People Before Profit Alliance

Date

15 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Matter of the Day

Heading

Racially Motivated Riots

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5613073

Read the official Assembly record

Text

The violent scenes that we saw last week, where loyalist paramilitaries and the far right ran amok across our communities, instilling fear in our migrant, asylum seeker and black Irish and black British communities, have to be condemned and called out by everybody as a racist pogrom. Our communities are living in fear, and they have been for some time. At least 200 families have been burnt out of their homes or forced to flee because of that violence. We do not have an immigration problem in this society, but we do have a racism problem. I extend my solidarity to everyone who has been under pressure and living in fear over the past week. Despite the racist, dangerous and violent actions of a minority, you are welcome here. Migrants and asylum seekers, you are welcome in this community. You belong here. You are very much part of the fabric of our society and make it better. As Suleiman, a Somalian, said on Saturday, he is not part of an alien culture. I commend him and everybody else who turned out at the largest anti-racist demonstration in the history of Belfast, with some 20,000 people in attendance. Unfortunately, across our society, we do have a problem with violence in our communities. It is wrong to blame that on one particular community or on one particular group of people because of their race or where they may have been born. I note that the same forces that were causing havoc in the past week did not utter a peep when, over the past six years, disgracefully, 30 women were killed in this society.

I also extend my solidarity to the journalists who have been intimidated and threatened over recent days. It is important that the ugly scenes and the ugly face of this society are shown to people who live here and across the world. Journalists have been threatened by people who cannot defend their wanton violence and far-right ideas and who, instead, intimidate. Solidarity to the journalists and crews. The way to deal with racism is not through more violence and hate and especially not by shooting plastic or rubber bullets at working-class kids who are being exploited by loyalist paramilitaries. There are also huge questions to be asked about how the PSNI handled last week. It refused to intervene to protect the people who were targeted and whose house in multiple occupation (HMO) addresses were being shared for some time. The state was nowhere to be found last week. The people who intervened were the community groups, the solidarity groups, the women's groups, the anti-racism organisations and political reps. That will be the key to protecting our society and communities and to pushing back the far right in the months and weeks ahead.

464 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:47 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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