Nineteen arrests over disorder with house targeted in arson

Nineteen people - including a 16-year-old-boy - have now been arrested following the violence in parts of Northern Ireland this week.

Thursday night was relatively quiet although police say an arson attack in north Belfast is linked to the disorder.

The fire service was called to the Shore Road on Thursday night where a blaze had been set at the rear of a house - there are no reports of injuries.

A leading member of the Indian community in Londonderry has said some health care professionals from overseas have told him they are now questioning whether they should have come to Northern Ireland at all.

In an update on the disorder, police said the property was unoccupied at the time and two neighbouring properties also sustained damage as a result of the attack, which is being treated a hate-motivated arson.

They also said they were alerted to race-hate graffiti in Dee Street and Newtownards Road areas of east Belfast.

Elsewhere, a car fire was extinguished after an arson attack on the Glenshane Road in Derry at 00:30 BST on Friday. No one was injured in the incident near Tamnaherin Road, which police are treating as a racially motivated hate crime.

Separately, police are also treating an incident where items were burned outside a property in the Milltown View area of Derry as a racially motivated hate crime. It is understood the family who lived in the home have been relocated to another part of Northern Ireland.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) say their policing operation will remain over the weekend to ensure public order is maintained.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) said they received 46 emergency calls resulting in crews being mobilised to 26 incidents across Northern Ireland on Thursday evening.

Dr Mukesh Chugh has lived and worked as a doctor in Derry for more than 20 years.

"We hear especially from people who come from different nations and people of different colour - their houses are gone, their cars are gone, their windows are smashed," he told BBC Radio Foyle's North West Today programme.

"We're in a WhatsApp group and there are messages floating that a certain family has been made homeless overnight and they were a family with small kids."

The disorder was sparked after footage of a knife attack in north Belfast on Monday night was shared widely on social media.

Hadi Alodid, a 30-year-old originally from Sudan, appeared in court on Wednesday charged with attempted murder over a knife attack in north Belfast on Monday that caused serious injuries to the victim, Stephen Ogilvie.

Violence broke out across Northern Ireland on Tuesday night, with homes, businesses and vehicles targeted.

Further disorder followed on Wednesday, particularly in Glengormley and Portadown, where police came under attack and deployed water cannon.

Police said 12 officers were injured and 16 people were arrested during Wednesday night's unrest.

Dr Chugh said: "We should not judge the whole immigrant community because of one act of violence done by some person in the street.

"Same goes for people who are on the roads – I don't believe they represent the good Northern Irish people."

Trevor Lucy, chair of Unison's Foyle Health Branch, said many medical staff "have been living in fear for the last few days".

He added that staff in Altnagelvin hospital have been "unusually quiet" this week.

"It's the fear - they're just hoping they can get home safely."

Lucy said staff "are staying at home" and "are afraid to go out".

He is worried the racially motivated disorder witnessed in parts of Northern Ireland in recent years could put international health workers off taking jobs in the region.

"There is a trend now... people are taking to the streets and doing inappropriate things and I'm afraid it will have an impact."

On Tuesday night Pastor Jack McKee was helping people on the Crumlin Road in north Belfast who had been affected.

Speaking to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme, he described the scene as "mayhem".

When he went into one house there were two female care workers inside who were "absolutely totally traumatised".

He said he pleaded with the protesters who were holding bricks outside to give him time to get the women out.

Pastor McKee said he knows of at least one nurse who has now left Northern Ireland for England, as well as six drivers who left on Thursday because they "didn't feel safe".

"The people that are being caught up in this are people who contribute to life in Northern Ireland – to the community, to those that are hurting, those that need their help."

He said many of the people involved in the violence are not connected to paramilitary activity but there are "many young men that, sadly, just need a reason to come on to streets".

A young man, who wanted to remain anonymous, has been living in Northern Ireland for the past 20 years.

He is originally from Central America.

For the first time, his parents are thinking of leaving.

"We moved to the UK, in 2005 and it was either micro aggression or physical threats or verbal threats towards us."

He has been considering leaving Northern Ireland for a while, particularly given recent summers of disorder and was in Sweden visiting family and looking at work opportunities when the latest disorder broke out.

"I cannot walk the streets with my fiancé without being stared at or a slur being said,"he said.

On Friday PSNI ACC Ryan Henderson said protests on Thursday night were "much calmer than we have seen in recent days".

"There were peaceful protests last night at a number of locations, including Newtownabbey, with no significant incidents of public disorder.

"Our policing operation will remain over the weekend to ensure public order is maintained."

A meeting was held between police the local business community to "raise issues and concerns around the negative impact the disorder has caused".

Following the meeting, Comm Ch Supt Amanda Ford said Belfast city centre is "very much open for business" and there will be an increased policing presence.

A Translink spokesperson said bus and train services are "currently operating as normal, with minimal alterations" on Friday after services were suspended earlier this week.

First Minister Michelle O'Neill, Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly, and Health Minister Mike Nesbitt visited the Mater Hospital in Belfast to show "solidarity with healthcare workers" following recent reports of threats, intimidation and racist attacks against staff.

O'Neill said: "Our healthcare workers deliver lifesaving care every single day, often in highly pressurised conditions and they deserve to do so safely, with dignity and respect."

Little-Pengelly said staff show "dedication and professionalism" every day and abuse will not be tolerated.

The health minister said the health and social care system would "undoubtedly collapse" without international workers.