11 August 2025

SDLP Belfast City Council Group Leader councillor Séamas de Faoite has called for a multi-agency response to racist intimidation in the city.

He was speaking after a number of social media posts showed various incidents of racist intimidation around East Belfast.

Councillor de Faoite has called for an urgent meeting of the East Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership.

Councillor de Faoite said:

“Nobody has the right to intimidate anybody simply going about their lives and we need to call this racism out for what it is. These videos are deeply unsettling, showing a deliberate targeting of foreign nationals by those who feel they can behave as they wish without fear of punishment.

“We must remember this comes after recent race riots and we need to see a strong response to this from the PSNI and Department of Justice. We cannot allow vigilantism to go unchallenged and if something is not done I fear this situation will only get worse. There is also an onus on the Justice Minister to introduce stand-alone hate crime legislation as repeatedly called for by our migrant community.

“I have asked for an urgent meeting of the local PCSP to provide support and reassurance to our migrant community, but we also need to hear loud and clear from the PSNI about how they plan to respond to these incidents and put an immediate stop to this kind of behaviour on our streets.”