Claire Sugden, a liberal unionist who sits as an independent, addressed a group of Muslim visitors in the gallery above.
“To those being targeted, I am so sorry that living here has made you feel scared, intimidated and unsafe. I’m ashamed,” she said.
Referring to the criminal rackets of the UDA and UVF, she chided hard-line unionists for trying “to justify the behavior” of militants who in turn encourage youths in unionist areas to threaten immigrants and clash with police. “It is your community they’re exploiting and your children they are manipulating.”
And Alliance’s Kate Nicholl, who came to Belfast at age 12 as a white refugee from Zimbabwe, grew emotional as she decried unionists willing to defend the “legitimate concerns” of gangs and rioters. She said it was “shameful” for them to blame the relatively small immigrant community for wider housing supply problems.
“We are here about racist crime, Islamophobia. We will have another conversation about housing. Please do not conflate them. It is negligent to do so. It’s dangerous to do so,” she said.
Boutcher, the police chief, sought to reassure Muslim leaders by bringing together imams from every mosque across Northern Ireland and pledging to identify and charge every rioter. He noted that 16 had already been arrested and 11 charged, while detailed scrutiny of police and closed-circuit video footage was now beginning.
