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On the ground in the Belfast riots - podcast

The Guardian reporter Hannah Al-Othman on the anti-immigrant rioting in Northern Ireland and the residents afraid for their lives

Stella and Sumayah are housemates. Both care workers and students from Uganda, they live together in west Belfast.

On Tuesday night, the riots across the city came to their street. The neighbouring houses were set on fire, smoke was coming through the door, masked men were outside.

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© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

© Photograph: Adam Vaughan/EPA

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‘My kids are crying’: list of targeted addresses stokes fears across Belfast

People in city’s minority ethnic communities speak of alarm as violence casts light on racism in Northern Ireland

As widespread violence broke out in Belfast, a list of addresses began circulating on social media. Spread geographically wide, on dozens of streets across the city, the addresses were reportedly houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) where immigrants live.

Joseph and Solomon, who are both from Eritrea, and came to Belfast as refugees, now have leave to remain and work full-time. They live on the same street as one of the properties on the list, but Joseph thought it was theirs that was meant to be on it. “It’s obviously for us,” he said.

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© Photograph: Alan Lewis/Photopress Belfast/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alan Lewis/Photopress Belfast/The Guardian

© Photograph: Alan Lewis/Photopress Belfast/The Guardian

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Police use water cannon against rioters in Northern Ireland

Force disperses crowd of 300 people who burned truck and reportedly planned to target hotel hosting migrants

Police have used water cannon against rioters in Northern Ireland during a second night of anti-immigration protests.

It dispersed a crowd of about 300 people who burned a truck and threw bricks and petrol bombs close to the Sandyknowes roundabout near Newtownabbey, eight miles north of Belfast.

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© Photograph: PA

© Photograph: PA

© Photograph: PA

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Elon Musk’s X not facing action from UK government over posts inciting violence in Belfast

Any official reprimand will come from regulator Ofcom, but not for at least two months

Elon Musk’s X will face no action to remove a mass of posts inciting violence in Northern Ireland for at least two months, despite widespread condemnation of the platform and its billionaire owner.

Concern over the role social media played in spreading disturbing images and fuelling anger continued to grow on Wednesday as police and community leaders urged calm.

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© Photograph: David Swanson/Reuters

© Photograph: David Swanson/Reuters

© Photograph: David Swanson/Reuters

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Most Makerfield voters say offensive posts would put them off candidate, poll finds

Survey in run-up to byelection also finds support for water renationalisation, wealth tax and cap on political donations

A majority of voters in Makerfield say they would be less likely to vote for an election candidate if they have posted offensive content on social media, polling shows.

The polling for the campaign group 38 Degrees, undertaken by Survation, asked 518 voters in the Makerfield constituency for their views on a range of issues, with 55% saying they would be less likely to vote for a politician who has posted offensive material online.

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© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

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‘There’s wee girls inside’: panic as masked men storm house in Belfast

Protests across the city turned violent on Tuesday night – with some police officers acting as if it wasn’t safe to intervene

On a residential street draped in loyalist flags near Belfast’s Shankill Road, the masked men approached a house with a boarded-up window and a security camera stationed outside.

As a woman from an ethnic minority background looked down from an upstairs window, some of the men rushed the front door and broke it down. With the air thick with smoke from fireworks, they attacked the downstairs windows with bricks.

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© Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

© Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

© Photograph: Isabel Infantes/Reuters

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Politicians try to calm tensions inflamed by social media after stabbing in Belfast

Attack was filmed and shared online prompting Elon Musk and others to call for anti-immigration protests

Politicians from across the spectrum have called for calm after a knife attack in Belfast prompted widespread shock and condemnation.

There are fears there could be disorder after figures on social media, including Elon Musk, called for people to fill the streets in protest against immigration. The alleged perpetrator of the attack, which was filmed and shared widely online, was revealed today as an asylum seeker from Sudan.

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© Photograph: Social Media

© Photograph: Social Media

© Photograph: Social Media

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Violence erupts in Belfast after protests over knife attack

Crowds, including people in masks and hoods, burned vehicles and properties after calls for demonstrations from far-right figures

Protests against immigration have erupted into violence in Northern Ireland after far-right activists called for demonstrations in response to a stabbing attack that was captured in a graphic video.

Crowds including masked men burned vehicles and houses and blocked roads in and around Belfast on Tuesday night, hours after Elon Musk, Tommy Robinson and other agitators exhorted people to take to the streets.

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© Photograph: PA

© Photograph: PA

© Photograph: PA

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Family courts show ‘widespread’ gender bias and victim-blaming, report finds

Exclusive: Analysis shows 72.5% of 91 judgments in England and Wales contained judicial victim-blaming, with mothers scrutinised more intensely

A report has found “widespread and concerning evidence” of bias and victim-blaming in the family courts – primarily disadvantaging women.

The report, Scratching the Surface: Victim-Blaming and Bias in Family Court Judgments, by the nonprofit organisation Right to Equality, will be shared with MPs on Tuesday at an event in parliament.

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© Photograph: kieferpix/Getty Images/iStockphoto

© Photograph: kieferpix/Getty Images/iStockphoto

© Photograph: kieferpix/Getty Images/iStockphoto

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