Speaking on the media rounds this morning, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn condemned the violence in Northern Ireland as "racist thuggery".

"If you are burning someone out of their home saying 'foreigners out', what other word would you use?" he asks BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He says it has created a "sense of terror and fear" among ethnic minorities in Northern Ireland.

Others have also condemned the attacks as racially motivated in statements this morning:

• "These acts serve no one and only cause harm and fear within communities," said Northern Ireland's Infrastructure Minister Liz Kimmins after a vehicle owned by her department was set on fire in a depot in County Antrim
• "Every time a politician blames migrants and refugees for problems created by our unjust economic system it fuels hatred," said Unison general secretary Andrea Egan on X, calling on leaders to "stop emboldening the far-right"
• "Blaming a group of people for the awful actions of an individual leads us to a very dark place," said Green Party leader Zack Polanski, accusing Elon Musk of stoking violence on X

Kelly Bonner
BBC News NI

Glengormley resident Paul Sharkey tells me he was "petrified" last night.

He says: "I witnessed masked man walking up our street and setting fire to homes, it was terrifying".

"A van was sat alight and pushed towards my home."

He adds: "I hardly slept a wink. I was terrified."

An 18-year-old man has been charged after two PSNI officers were injured by a petrol bomb in Carrickfergus, County Antrim on Tuesday.

He has been charged with riot and is expected to appear before Belfast Magistrates' Court later today.

Enda McClafferty
BBC News NI political editor

The government is set to "intensify" its crackdown on illegal migrants living in Northern Ireland.

According to a government source, the Home Office is ramping up immigration enforcement efforts to "track down, detain, arrest and remove" illegal migrants.

This will see a "surge in intelligence-led operations" carried out by Immigration Enforcement officers and Border Force personnel along Common Travel Area routes.

The Home Office claims that nearly 1,000 illegal migrants have been removed over the past year.

Read more on this here.

We are expected to hear an update from the PSNI's chief constable Jon Boutcher at a press conference this morning, but let's take a moment to have a look back at comments he made about the potential for disorder on 4 June.

He told the Policing Board he was “concerned about events in the summer” following “really difficult, major disturbances in the last two years”.

“I do have some real concerns…but we are ready for it and we are reassuring people.”

At that time he also said he was “concerned about the malign influence of bad actors spreading extreme and hateful disinformation on social media”.

Image source, PA Media

Loyalist activist Jamie Bryson claims "it's not loyalist paramilitary organisations" behind this week's disorder.

"The leaderships of the organisations have been clear, they’re not taking any part in this, they’re not encouraging anybody to take any part in this," Bryson tells Good Morning Ulster.

"I think the police would confirm that."

He says the situation "would be a lot different" if they were involved, "because what you’re actually seeing is the absence of orchestration, the absence of coordination and you simply see the wild west now".

"This is just absolute chaos.”

Cleanup efforts are ongoing in Glengormley's Antrim Rd, which was the epicentre for much of last night's violence.

Here are some more of the latest pictures from the scene:

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Police Scotland is expected to send about 90 officers to Northern Ireland as part of a mutual aid agreement with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, says the total will include five inspectors.

Northern Ireland's Secretary of State Hilary Benn confirmed 200 extra officers from across the UK will be on the ground from today to help restore order and protect ethnic minorities who are being targeted.

Police Scotland would not confirm numbers but say an agreement was reached following careful consideration “to ensure there is no impact to policing in Scotland”.

A Sudanese woman who came to Northern Ireland as a refugee in 2016 says her community is "terrified" following the Belfast knife attack.

Twasul Mohammed and others have been helping some of the families who were forced out of their homes on Tuesday night when gangs of masked men burnt out homes and vehicles.

"When the attack happened on Monday night, we knew this would be coming," she told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"I have seen women and kids terrified and in shock," she said.

"Everyone is terrified, we are keeping our kids at home. I haven't sent my kids to school since it happened and everyone is worried and tearful."

As we reported earlier, there have been a number of incidents of healthcare workers being abused or targeted while on their way to and from work.

Patricia McKeown from the union Unison, says a nurse with "a different skin colour was chased into the Ulster Hospital by four masked men".

The South Eastern Health Trust says it is "horrified" by the incident and "utterly condemns" it.

"This nurse bravely insisted on remaining in the Ulster Hospital to care for the most vulnerable in our community. Her behaviour is in stark contrast to the behaviour of the people who terrified her as she tried to do her job," the Trust says.

Meanwhile, The Belfast Trust says the recent incidents of civil unrest are "deeply worrying" and it's "appalled" that some of its staff have been subjected to racist abuse.

"Any abuse of our staff will not be tolerated, this is unacceptable behaviour and we would encourage anyone subjected to racist abuse to report each incident to the PSNI and to tell their line manager."

Regarding the protests, Maitiu Mág Tighearnán says: "Everybody is entitled to the right of opinion and the right to protest.

"[But] when it turns violent then you lose sight of the protest and what it actually stands for."

He says a local shop which has been there for 15-20 years was attacked, adding the owners have grandchildren born in Northern Ireland.

"We have people in our society who contribute towards our economy, who contribute towards our country, so attacking those people makes no sense," he says, adding the burning of a bus in Belfast on Tuesday also "sets [things] back so many years".

Maitiu Mág Tighearnán says he has been "overwhelmed" by the reaction.

"This is all new to me, I'm someone who tries to keep a low profile, I don't like too much attention on myself."

He says while people have described what he did as "heroic", he said for him it's a "natural reaction that took place at that time".

Mág Tighearnán says he would love to meet with Stephen when he is well enough, and has spoken to a member of the Ogilvie family.

"It's not that there's anything to be thankful for, we're just glad that we were able to intervene when we could," he says.

The man who intervened in Monday night's knife attack, and who many have credited with saving Stephen Ogilvie's life, says in his first broadcast interview it was his "natural reaction" to help.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Maitiu Mág Tighearnán says he was driving with a friend to a petrol station having just dropped his son off at hurling practice and saw a car blocking the road.

He says there was a woman inside the car who looked "quite panicky" and then saw what he thought was a fight between two men on the road.

He says his friend got straight out of the car trying to break it up, but after spotting the knife he came running back to the car.

Mág Tighearnán says they then got the hurling stick from the boot of the car and his instinct "was just to run straight across".

"There's a man lying there, I just heard 'he's being stabbed', there was blood everywhere. The first thing is that man needs help, so it's a natural reaction for me and most people that I know would also do the same."

Paul McLaren
BBC Scotland news website

In Scotland, dozens of people staged a protest last night outside a hotel that has been used to house asylum seekers.

Police Scotland say the demonstration in Greenock passed off without serious incident.

There was no repeat of the violent disorder across central Scotland which led to three men being arrested on Tuesday evening. Five people – including two police officers – were injured after hundreds of people wearing masks marched through Glasgow city.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Waddell previously said people were "attacked because of the colour of their skin”.

Louise Cullen
BBC News NI

Debris still littered the Antrim Road near Sandyknowes Roundabout, north of Belfast this morning.

Cars were approaching it gingerly first thing, driving through it carefully and in some cases turning back.

Street cleaners have since been out removing the bricks, garden clippings, melted plastic and pieces of metal that were scattered over the road.

Some metal debris has sunk into the tarmac which melted in the heat of the fires set last night and council staff are struggling to dig much of it out.

Image source, Pacemaker

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

As we have just reported, the remains of cars and burnt-out bins have been left in the street following a standoff between police and protesters.

Debris also remains strewed across the street and a building, which was understood to be derelict, has been charred.

8 June, 22:30 BST: A 30-year-old Sudanese man - later named as Hadi Alodid - is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a knife attack in Belfast on Monday night. Footage begins to circulate on social media of the attack.

9 June: Police Service Northern Ireland say the victim has suffered significant injuries to his eyes, back and face.

9 June, 19:30: Protesters start to gather on streets and block roads in Northern Ireland. Some have been peaceful protests, but by 21:30 police say they’re dealing with “sporadic pockets of disorder”.

A bus is set on fire on Newtownards Road in Belfast and elsewhere cars are set alight and houses targeted by stone-throwers. In another scene, about 100 masked men kicked in doors and broke windows down, saying they were “getting the foreigners out”.

By 22:45, multiple homes are set on fire, and families including a two-month-old baby and a 70-year-old man with dementia are evacuated. Overnight, the fire service attended 62 incidents, mostly in the greater Belfast area.

Protests also take place elsewhere in the country: in Glasgow, where Police Scotland say five people were injured, and also in Edinburgh, Ayr, and Southampton.

10 June: Alodid appears in court charged with attempted murder, as well as possession of a knife in a public place and threats to kill an NHS worker. The victim of the knife attack is named in court as Stephen Ogilvie, and his family say the disorder is “not welcome”.

10 June, 20:00: Police use a water canon to disperse protesters after about 200 people gather in Glengormley, eight miles north-west of Belfast city centre. Some individuals damaged properties to throw objects towards police. Disorder breaks out elsewhere, but is subdued compared to Tuesday night.

11 June: This morning, the UK secretary of state for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn, says a sense of fear "has spread amongst ethnic minority people" after nights of violence.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has released images of people they would like to speak to, external in connection with the serious public disorder in Belfast on Tuesday.

They are asking the public if they can help identify the individuals and are also appealing to those pictured to come forward to police themselves.

Rowley's comments come as political leaders and the family of the knifing victim warn of messaging on social media fuelling the violence.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn says "people who live a long, long way from Northern Ireland" and know nothing about the country are "trying to stoke and fan the flames of this disorder".

Asked whether he is referring to Elon Musk, Benn says: "I'm talking about all of those who are responsible for social media platforms."

Alongside their calls for calm on Wednesday, knifing victim Stephen Ogilvie's family also said they had been forced to clarify that he was in a stable condition after witnessing "a lot of false information circulating on social media".

It followed a statement from police warning against "totally unacceptable" social media posts, with some "putting lives at risk" by posting address details online. The homes of foreign nationals were targeted on Tuesday night.

Image source, PA Media

London's top police officer says he is monitoring the "disturbing scenes" from Northern Ireland, while his force is keenly aware of the risk of social media-fuelled disorder.

While the violence has centred on Belfast and surrounding areas, Sir Mark Rowley tells the BBC's Today programme there is an ongoing risk from extremist online commentary - particularly from young men who become "violence-fixated individuals".

"They are wading through Islamist beheadings, right-wing violence, school shooting videos from America, misogynistic violence online, and they're not adopting an ideology, they're just becoming obsessed with the subject of violence," he says.

The Met Police commissioner adds that the risk of violence is also being driven in part online by "malign factors overseas".

"This is quite a difficult issue, where other countries want to sow disorder on the streets of the UK," he says.

Alliance Party MLA for South Antrim, John Blair, earlier spoke to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme about what he described as a "rampage of violence and destruction" on the streets of Glengormley last night.

"The actions of those involved when they were prevented from reaching their intended target tells me that their intention was never peaceful," Blair said. "Fear and terror was brought to a peaceful community."

He said there was "some degree of coordination" behind the protests.

"We all need to be careful with our language around what is sometimes called 'peaceful protest'," he said. "Protest is not peaceful if a local business or a local facility has been advised or instructed to close in order to facilitate that protest."