Let us start by saying that the attack on Mr Ogilvie was brutal and seemed to have been carried out by someone either on drugs or with a severe, undiagnosed mental health issue. The dignity that Mr Ogilvie’s family have shown is commendable in that they have not played the race or migration card and have made the following statement after a night of thuggery and racist violence on our streets: “We are aware of the tensions and talk of protests following this incident. We want to make it absolutely clear that overnight unrest is not welcome, and peaceful protest is the only way forward. We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector, and we depend on them to make our country work. We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility.” Let me also add and commend the social conscience and bravery of Maitiu Mág Tighearnán who stepped in to save Mr Ogilvie’s life.
Firstly, in Sudan you have a raging civil war that has seen 2.5 million people killed, children, women, young and old, with a further14 million displaced. You could safely call this a human rights crisis, so you can imagine why these people want to leave this war-torn country, which many of these thugs creating mayhem on our streets would be unaware of.
A man has now been charged with attempted murder, and the Chief Constable has said that the attack on Mr Ogilvie was not terror-related. This was clearly a crazed attack. However, there are a number of questions to be answered :
- Was the perpetrator tested for drugs, as can be done under PACE provisions?
- Did the victim and perpetrator know each other?
- Did the perpetrator claim asylum in France or Ireland?
- Did the perpetrator have a Schengen Visa to enter France or Ireland, a requirement if you are a citizen of Sudan?
- On what grounds did he get leave to stay after travelling to Belfast?
Asylum seekers come here because of civil wars, ethnic cleansing, and famine in their countries. We have around 2500 asylum seekers in Northern Ireland, which is the lowest per capita in the UK. Asylum seekers cost us £55 per night per asylum seeker, totalling £55 million per annum, while welfare payments, possibly to many of those perpetrating the violence, cost us £9.4 billion per annum. This £55 million cost of asylum seekers represents just over half a per cent of the cost of welfare or represents two days spending on our NHS. In addition, migrants who come here legally are here to fill posts and jobs that we do not want to do, such as in adult social care or skills we are short on, such as in IT, doctors, and nurses. By the way, these people pay their taxes, taxes that are used to contribute to our welfare costs. These people make up almost 20% of our health care and social care staff; without them, our crumbling health care system would crumble even faster.
To those good people, in largely working-class Protestant communities, if you want to blame people for the ills and underinvestment in your communities, of which I agree there are many, you should blame unionist politicians whom you have elected for decades and who have miserably failed to advocate for the needs of your communities. In the sixties, seventies and eighties, these communities were conned into believing all their social and economic ills were the fault of the FFs. In the noughties, tens, and twenties, it is now the fault of another set of FFs. I say this as a working-class boy who grew up at the bottom of Donegall Road and later went to Lisnasharragh Secondary School; can you remember who went there? Read my Blog: https://thegob.org/2022/10/22/unionism-today/
What is also clear is that Robinson, Givan and Buckley are afraid or unable to call elements of these communities that stoke racist sentiments and racial violence. Robinson blames the so-called porous border and the European Convention of Human Rights, which are both BS. Unionist politicians call out the thuggery and racist violence and then bookend it with phrases like mass immigration, out-of-control, alien cultures, whatever that is and call the perpetrator’s actions medieval, a bit like the Inquisition, Shankill Butchers and Bloody Friday. Jonathan Buckley, when challenged on The View by Mark Crothers, who said that these words could be construed as code to get on the street and make some noise, which inevitably results in violence. Buckley describes these as wait for it” HURTY WORDS and complained that the media were trying to close down a legitimate debate, as you do, when you keep digging a hole for yourself. He went on to describe alien cultures where grown men marry children; if he has any evidence of this illegal activity here, he should inform the police, and I would be right behind him. Though it has to be said, I have not heard Buckley get just as animated about the femicide in Northern Ireland, which makes our province the least safe for young women in the UK. Just to be clear, many of the individuals whose houses were attacked were Christians. Claire Hanna, Owen Tennison, and John Burroughs were unequivocal about condemning the racist violence, as was Chris Hazzard. However, he inevitably mentioned sectarianism, which is about an excessive attachment to a particular religious, political, or social group and racism, which is simply about the colour of your skin.
The issue about our border or lack of it on this Island is a red herring being used by the usual suspects, such as the DUP leader Gavin Robinson, Paul Givan, and the TUV. They know that free movement on this island is guaranteed under the Good Friday Agreement, and then they go on to deliberately conflate asylum, illegal migration, and legal migration.
I was at the anti-racist gathering on Saturday where there was a large crowd both in support of the victims and against the thugs who perpetrated the racist violence. There were cries against the far-right fascist groups involved in the racist riots and a call to arms by a trade union leader who invoked the word comrades, a throwback to 1917. The cries against the far-right fascist groups, to me, gave cover to the failed so-called mandatory coalition and those we elect to it. There was a cry for more funding from Westminster but no acknowledgement of the cost of division here, which is estimated at £2 billion per annum. Gratitude was given to those who stepped up to support victims of the rioting, and rightly so, though they should have had a more prominent role at the gathering.
I say to the young people who have perpetrated this senseless violence, encouraged by uncaring parents, ill-informed members of their community, disinformation on their social media feeds or godfathers within your communities: you are not just burning people’s cars and houses; you are burning your futures and the futures of coming generations, all because of one crazy man.
The last word goes to Martin Luther King Jnr: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Suneil Sharma
15th June 2026
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The Gob 
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