Sawt Falasteen - 'Racist thuggery' condemned after second night of disorder in N.Ireland

Twelve officers were also injured in Wednesday's unrest, the UK government's Northern Ireland minister Hilary Benn told Sky News.

Dozens of masked protesters clashed with riot police late into the night, with rioters setting fire to a car and boarded-up property, AFP journalists saw.

Projectiles, including petrol bombs and bricks, were hurled as riot police used water cannon and mounted charges to push back dozens of rioters trying to reach a hotel which had been used to house asylum seekers.

Benn said the scale of unrest on Wednesday evening was "a lot less than the terrible events that we witnessed on Tuesday night".

But he said it was "really important to convey the sense of fear that has been created, above all for those who were intimidated, burned out of their houses by masked thugs on the basis of the colour of their skin".

"We've had reports of people being stopped in their cars to be asked what their nationality is on their way to work, and this is completely unacceptable," he told Sky News TV.

A nurse was "chased and intimidated" as she travelled to work at Ulster Hospital near Belfast on Wednesday night, the body that runs the hospital said.

She "bravely insisted" on doing her shift "in stark contrast to the behaviour of the people who terrified her as she tried to do her job", it added in a statement.

The biggest and main mosque in Northern Ireland also had to be shut for the first time in its history on Tuesday, chairman Mohammed Arshed said.

"We have been here since 1978. And we've never had trouble close before."

- Social media -

UK authorities blamed far-right activists for stoking anger on social media following Monday's knife attack.

A Sudanese man appeared in court Wednesday charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie that triggered the unrest, which also spread to the Scottish city Glasgow.

Hadi Alodid, 30, was remanded in custody by Belfast magistrates, charged with Monday's attack, and the case was adjourned to July 8.

The images of the attack spread within the hour on social networks after being posted on X by far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon -- also known as Tommy Robinson -- and then amplified by X-owner and US tech billionaire Elon Musk.

In a night of violence in Belfast on Tuesday, masked rioters torched vehicles and buildings and forced families to flee their homes.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the scenes as "shocking and completely unacceptable".

Ogilvie's family appealed for calm and warned against using the "terrible tragedy" to "divide people or fuel hostility".

Ogilvie was in a stable condition despite losing an eye.

Tensions were already high across the UK. There were skirmishes in southern England last week over the police handling of the murder of a white student by a British Sikh man.

A local resident, 28, who asked not to give her name, said she had helped evacuate her neighbours. "It's just sad, this is a really close-knit community," she told AFP.

- 'Influx of migrants' -

Tuesday's unrest mainly flared in Protestant unionist areas.

Brendan, a 50-year-old plumber who joined the protests, said "nobody agrees with the violence" and there had been enough during the decades of sectarian fighting over British rule of Northern Ireland, which ended in a 1998 peace deal.

But he supported the protests as "there's nothing going to unite people more than crimes of inhumane acts like butchering people".

And John, who also only gave his first name, said: "There's now a united Ireland... united because the ordinary people have realised that, actually, we have been played like puppets."

He said the protesters were "genuinely concerned... we have an influx across Europe of migrants".

Numerous accounts linked to so-called "patriots" shared the footage, urging people to "protest against mass immigration into their communities".

The country has seen frequent anti-immigration protests in recent years, some turning violent.

C.Hamad--SF-PST