Debate contribution: Racially Motivated Riots

Debate contribution by Mr Eóin Tennyson on 15 June 2026.

MLA

Mr Eóin Tennyson

Party at the time

Alliance Party

Date

15 June 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Matter of the Day

Heading

Racially Motivated Riots

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5613128

Read the official Assembly record

Text

Last week, a frenzied knife attack left a man fighting for his life and our entire community reeling. I know that I speak for every Member when I say that my thoughts are with Stephen Ogilvie and his family. Despite that family's call for calm, however, their anguish has been exploited and weaponised by far-right and white supremacist elements locally and online. What followed was an outrage: a series of race-based pogroms; masked men marauding the streets kicking in doors, burning down homes and forcing children from their beds and into police Land Rovers; cancelled hospital appointments, closed schools and shuttered businesses; and families too afraid to walk the streets or lie in their own beds at night. I say this clearly to the members of our black and ethnic minority community who have had to listen to chants of, "Go home" from racist thugs this week: you are home; you are right where you belong; your contribution is valued; and you are one of us. Some have suggested that the violence was the result of people seeking to legitimately express genuine concerns about immigration. However, AI posts urging men to wear masks, dress in dark clothing and prepare to be arrested tell a very different story. They were never protests; they were hate marches. This was racism pure and simple, no ifs and no buts, and we must not fall into a trap of seeking to rationalise or legitimise it after the fact. People in our community are, of course, entitled to their views on immigration, and the system is not perfect. However, what we saw last week was not a debate, a conversation or an exchange of ideas on the way forward. We never seem to get honesty about the complexities or challenges associated with these issues or well-thought-out proposals on solutions. Instead, we get inflammatory rhetoric and provocateurs in the Chamber whipping up hate and division. It is especially dangerous when we hear Members talk about "alien cultures" or "invasions". Those statements imply that there are people in our community who are somehow less legitimate, less rooted and less deserving of safety than anyone else. Language such as that does not calm tensions; it inflames them. Leadership means lowering the temperature, not fanning the flames. In Northern Ireland, we know all too well what happens when entire communities are scapegoated for the actions of individuals as part as tit-for-tat violence, but we also know that this place has never been defined by our darkest days. We are defined by the neighbours who opened their doors this week; by the volunteers who showed up; by the communities that stood together and by the thousands who took to the streets of Belfast on Saturday to stand against racism. That is who we are — a tolerant, inclusive, diverse and resilient society — and we will not allow a vocal minority to drown out the very best of us.

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

Assessment

Not flagged

Jev’s structured answers

Assessed 21 October 2026 at 01:21 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

Disagree with this assessment?

Classifications can be challenged. A person reads every challenge, and any change is recorded publicly above with its reason.

Challenge this classification