Belfast violence outrageous, says far-right campaigner

Jim Dowson is a far-right campaigner

Violent disorder in Belfast following an anti-immigration protest was outrageous, one of the UK’s most prominent far-right voices has said.

On Tuesday, I spoke to Rev Jim Dowson, who was a founder of the anti-Islamic group Britain First and was once described as Britain’s most influential far-right activist by anti-racism campaigners.

He told me that he believed the majority of people oppose mass immigration, but he said it was not a problem in Northern Ireland.

He explained he does not know what the weekend demonstrations were meant to achieve.

“It was great to see people from different communities - tricolours, red hands of Ulster, flying together, rather shocking for somebody my age.

"So pleased to see it, but what happened later on that day, it descended into nuttiness,” he suggested.

“Attacking people, burning people's businesses. I know one of the businesses that was burnt, outrageous.”

The weekend clashes saw a number of businesses targeted on Saturday, followed by further disorder in Sandy Row on Monday evening.

Mr Dowson, who left Britain First in 2014, has a long history of far-right activism and has clear views on immigration.

From Scotland, he now lives in Northern Ireland and was handed a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to participating in unlawful public processions in 2013.

This was in relation to protests about the flying of the union flag at Belfast City Hall.

I asked him whether concern about immigration could become racism.

"Well, I don't think it slides into racism, it's pushed into racism because nobody's allowed to have a genuine conversation about it," he responded.

"If, over the last 20 years in this country people could have genuine sensible grown-up mature and decent conversations about the levels of immigration and the genuine worries people have got when they see their communities changing, people with another agenda would never have taken root,” he continued.

BBC News NI's Robbie Meredith spoke to Rev Dowson on Tuesday

Social media

I put it to Mr Dowson that immigrants were not to blame for housing shortages in Northern Ireland or pressures on the health service and he could be accused of dog whistling for racism.

He said Northern Ireland was “slightly different” and “we don't have a lot of immigrants”.

“I don’t think you can ever point to an example where I've been saying Northern Ireland's under this terrible pressure because of mass immigration.”

Business owners whose shops and livelihoods were destroyed over the weekend in Belfast, have questioned whether they wish to reopen.

Mr Dowson suggested the disorder was stoked by social media posts, to which I challenged if he was being hypocritical for his own past use of social media.

He said: “I used social media very effectively in the flag protests because it was something I cared passionately about and still do and I think if it had been played different we could have won a victory there. But that's a big difference from inciting people."

Mr Dowson said he had never expressed concern about immigration levels in Northern Ireland and claimed the issue was bigger in England and the Republic of Ireland.