Debate contribution: Racially Motivated Riots

Debate contribution by Mr David Brooks on 15 June 2026.

MLA: Mr David Brooks
Party at the time: Democratic Unionist Party
Date: 15 June 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Matter of the Day
Heading: Racially Motivated Riots
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5613152

Text

I join my colleague Mr Brett in saying, without hesitation, that violence is wrong. Our party has always said that. Attacking the police, who have nothing to do with the grievances expressed, is wrong. Burning buses and cars is wrong. Forcing families from their homes is wrong: it is wrong whenever those people are foreign nationals, and it is wrong whenever they are from the local community; sadly, in east Belfast, we had both. People were losing their homes: for what cause? Violence on our streets is wrong, and, unlike some in the Chamber, I have always said so. I believe that problematic foreign cultures are present in Northern Ireland. Whenever we have that discussion, it is often juxtaposed with Christianity and the idea of this being a Christian nation with some aspiring for it to be more so. I will not take lectures in scripture and Christianity from those who often spend their time opposing Christian values — I have no truck with such lectures. Equally, I say to those who have been involved in the violence that you will not rebuild a Christian nation by torching houses or cars or by attacking the police. The only way to build a Christian nation is by following Christ. You can call whatever it is that you seek to build what you will, but do not call it "Christian". A more Christian example was present in the Ballybeen estate, where the community rallied round a well-liked Romanian family who were forced from their home and raised money. That family has had to return home to Romania, but the community has reached out to make it clear that it wants them back and has received thanks from the family for that. I hope to see that family back in Ballybeen soon. In condemning all the violence, let me say that there are Members from across the Chamber who want to use this event to quieten or shut down debate on immigration and to silence those of us who wish to speak up for our communities. That will not happen. In the Chamber last week, those Members told us, for the first time, that they are up for conversations on immigration. They said that they recognised the issues and the fact that there are voices to be heard; yet it took a night of trouble on the streets for them to go back to calling pretty much everyone who has concerns about immigration racist and far right. I have said before that the way to fuel racist and far right sentiment is to continue down the path of ignoring working-class communities, which carry more than their fair share of the load in that regard, making them feel unheard and gaslighting them into believing that what they see with their own eyes is not true. I thank the emergency services that were present in east Belfast last week, particularly in Lendrick Street and McMaster Street. I give voice to some of the residents there, who are sick of the attention that they have been getting from journalists and YouTubers, and —
— I ask for peace on their behalf.

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

Assessment

Flagged Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers

Jev’s structured answers met every documented threshold for flagging as culture-war activity.

Overall probability that the activity is being used to promote, exploit or escalate an identity-based controversy: 0.83 (flagging needs at least 0.70; at or below 0.30 is not flagged).
Criteria met: Identity framing (0.90); Sectarian or communal antagonism (0.84); Dog-whistle messaging (0.90).
The text adopts the identity-based framing in its own voice (0.99).
Subject area: Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers.
The text adopts an antagonistic or dog-whistle framing, which is flagged even alongside legitimate scrutiny.

This is an AI-generated assessment of the text, made against published criteria. It is not a finding of fact about the MLA or their intentions. The Assembly record itself is the fact.

Jev’s structured answers

Probability that each statement is true of this text (0 = no, 1 = yes). A criterion counts as met at 0.60 or above.
Question	Probability	Met?
Identity framing	0.90	Yes
Sectarian or communal antagonism	0.84	Yes
Cultural grievance politics	0.24	No
Dog-whistle messaging	0.90	Yes
Controversy escalation	0.59	No
Legitimate policy scrutiny	0.14	No
Overall judgement	0.83	Above flagging threshold

Context and attribution (stance)
Option	Probability
No identity-based framing	0.00
Reports or questions it	0.00
Criticises or condemns it	0.01
Adopts it (chosen)	0.99

Subject area (top five)
Subject	Probability
Immigration, asylum, race, ethnicity and Travellers	0.98
Religion and belief (including people of no religion), churches, faith communities and religious prejudice (including antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice)	0.02
No identity-related subject	0.00
Flags, emblems, symbols, names and memorials	0.00
Parades, bonfires and commemorations	0.00

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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