Racist attacks: 'Discomfort with diversity' behind south Belfast incidents

Recent racist attacks on businesses in south Belfast are an indication of a community ill at ease with diversity, the head of a community support organisation has said.

The Rev Livingstone Thompson was speaking after a Syrian's man shop was attacked four times in two weeks.

Ahmad Alkhamran said he would move his business after the racist attacks.

However, a former Belfast Lord Mayor said the incidents are not representative of south Belfast.

Bob Stoker, the manager of Southcity Resource Centre, said there is a tendency for "the community as a whole to be demonised" because of incidents like this.

Both men were speaking to BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme after Mr Alkhamran's Donegall Road shop was set on fire on Sunday, the most recent in a spate of attacks on the premises.

Mr Thompson, the head of the African and Caribbean Support Organisation Northern Ireland (ACSONI), said "there's a real identity crisis as far as this community is concerned and they see these migrant businesses as a threat".

He said that communities such as the one living around Donegall Road can have issues with unemployment and accessing services, and that there is a perception "there is an ease being created for migrant communities to access services".

Mr Thompson labelled the attacks as "intimidation tactics" and said they were "not new as a Northern Ireland phenomenon".

Former Lord Mayor Bob Stoker said the attacks were not representative of the south Belfast Community

Mr Stoker, a former UKIP and UUP politicians, said the attacks on the grocery shop are "to be totally and utterly condemned" but are not representative of the community.

He added that "no one looks at the good, everyday work that happens in this community in terms of building good relations, in terms of providing services that's open to absolutely everyone".

However, he said that the population makeup in some areas of south Belfast had "changed dramatically" and, if a community pushed back against that, there "would be more incidents".

'Not an isolated incident'

Mr Thompson said he needed "to challenge the perception that this is any kind of a single attack".

"There's another supermarket that had three attacks, there's a computer shop that had three attacks, there's another shop that the glass was broken on Botanic Avenue - this is not an isolated incident," he said.

Ulster Unionist Party assembly member Robbie Butler said the attacks were the actions of "mindless individuals with evil intent in their own heart", adding they are "not reflective of the community at all".

However he added that "political instability leads to hostility" and, with issues around social housing and the cost-of-living crisis, there are "breeding grounds of discontent".

DUP South Belfast assembly member Edwin Poots said racist attacks "hasn't been a trend" in south Belfast, adding that "these last two weeks have been very unfortunate".

Mr Poots said there is a "misplaced" perception that people moving to the area have more opportunities than those already living there.

He said: "For years, the Housing Executive have neglected this community.

"People have reacted, their reactions are wrong, but it's individuals, not a community, that's doing this."