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LAST UPDATE | 20 hrs ago
THE FAMILY OF a man left seriously injured by a stabbing in Belfast on Monday night have said they are “completely devastated by the horrific attack”.
It happened on Kinnaird Avenue in north Belfast.
A 30-year-old a man has been charged with attempted murder.
The victim, Stephen Ogilvie, remains in a serious condition in hospital receiving treatment for serious eye, face and back wounds.
His family has issued a “profound thank you to the local people who bravely stepped in during the attack”.
Footage of the incident showed a member of the public intervene with a hurl in an attempt to stop the attack.
“Your quick actions absolutely saved his life, and we will never forget what you did for him in that moment,” said the family.
The family also thanked the emergency services and the doctors and nurses.
Protests yesterday evening in response to the stabbing attack turned violent in many places, with people forced to flee their homes as multiple cars and homes were set alight.
A two-month-old baby was among those who had to flee their homes.
The family said they 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.”
UK minister Ruth Anderson told the House of Lords today that 27 people “were made homeless” last night following the rioting.
“Twenty-seven people were made homeless last night because people went door-to-door to try and target foreign nationals to burn them out of their homes,” Anderson said,“I can only imagine the terror.”
In Belfast city centre today, most shops and businesses closed early ahead of possible further protests.
Northern Ireland’s public transport service Translink also cancelled all bus and rail services this evening.
This resulted in buses being parked up in the city centre this afternoon.
Belfast city centre absolutely dead and shuttered and buses all parked up pic.twitter.com/AmDr5ZoER1
— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) June 10, 2026
Social media posts had warned about roads being closed from 1.30pm, but this didn’t materialise.
Meanwhile, the family added that Nothern Ireland is home to “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.”
The family also asked for privacy and for people to refrain from “speculating about what happened”.
The family also encouraged anyone with information to contact the PSNI.
The statement comes as PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher vowed that the force will “go after” people online who “incited” rioting across Northern Ireland.
Speaking at a press conference in Belfast today, Boutcher said:
“It’s very easy, these days especially, to look online and be persuaded by people who know nothing about Northern Ireland, know nothing about the history of Northern Ireland, to take actions that they otherwise would not take.
“Stop looking at this nonsense, stop listening to these idiots.
“We will be going after them for the incitement that they’ve been doing.”
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson and X owner Elon Musk are among the figures who have commented on the public disorder in Belfast.
Boutcher said he wouldn’t “talk about individuals in this press conference” but added: “People will know who were online last night and inciting this behaviour.”
He said the PSNI will be investigating this, as it did last year following riots in Ballymena.
“We prosecuted those individuals successfully, and that will happen again.”
Boutcher added that 200 extra police officers will arrive in Northern Ireland tomorrow, but that he hopes last night will have been the height of the violent disorder.
He added that two PSNI officers were injured last night, one of whom was treated for smoke inhalation from a petrol bomb that was thrown nearby, and the other after being struck on the head from debris.
The PSNI chief constable also said he has not received any information to indicate that paramilitaries are orchestrating the rioting, but that he will be “open” with any information he receives.
In a statement issued this afternoon, the PSNI said there have been images circulating online with claims they show the victim, but those images are not of the man who was attacked.
“We acknowledge that the victim’s family have called for privacy at this time,” the PSNI said.
“Despite this we are aware of inaccurate images circulating claiming to be the victim after the attack. They are not related to anyone involved in the attempted murder.
“We believe these images are being used to arouse fear and hatred.
“We would reiterate that members of the public should not share footage of the attack.”
Boutcher was joined at the press conference by Northern Ireland Secretary of State Hilary Benn.
He noted that one of the families forced from their homes had lived in Northern Ireland for over 20 years.
Benn then remarked that there is a “particular responsibility on members of parliament, all of us, because we are leaders of our communities”.
While he welcomed political leaders “appealing for calm”, he added: “We will be judged by the words that we use, and I would say, when a reference was made to ‘alien cultures’, what was that trying to say?
“Because what is it saying about the people who have come from Sudan?
“There is probably a surgeon from Sudan operating on someone somewhere in the United Kingdom as we stand here, saving somebody’s life.
“We have a huge responsibility to think carefully about our language and not to fan the flames of disorder, the kind of disorder that we saw last night.”
Benn also said he spoke to foreign affairs minister Helen McEntee last night because “people will be seeking more information about the precise movements” of the man who has been charged.
He entered Northern Ireland across the Irish border in February 2023 having flown to Dublin from Paris.
The suspect claimed asylum upon arrival and in September 2023 was granted leave to remain in the UK until 2028.
Benn said he called McEntee because he was “keen to brief her on what had happened, given what we know about how the suspect arrived in Northern Ireland”.
He said there will also be “questions for authorities in Ireland about what they know about the individual”.
Speaking to The Journal’s political podcast, The Candidate, Tánaiste Simon Harris said it’s “really important that the two governments work closely when it comes to the issue of migration because we share a common travel area”.
“Nobody wants to see a hard border on the island of Ireland, far from it,” said Harris.
“But it does show the broader need to continue to work very closely together.”
Harris remarked that “migration policies in one country can have a knock-on impact on another” and that the common travel area “was never meant to be for migration” and was rather to be “for citizens of both Ireland and the UK”.
Harris added that there is no threat to the common travel area because “the benefits of are immense”.
“It’s really important in a democracy to debate migration policy, that’s a perfectly normal thing to do, but what we saw last night was criminality, and it was despicable.
Elsewhere, the Lord Mayor of Belfast said she received death threats amid the violent disorder.
Sinn Féin’s Róis-Máire Donnelly said the threats “will not deter” her from fulfilling her duties as she called for the people of Belfast to reject racism and “stand with” immigrants who have become “valued members of our community”.
In a statement, she said she was visited at home by the PSNI last night and made aware that threats had been made against her.
She was advised me to take extra precautions regarding her personal security.
Donnelly said this will “not deter me from fulfilling my role as mayor of this great city” and that she will “continue to represent everyone”.
She expressed her “full solidarity” with the victim of the attack, as well as the “community heroes who intervened and saved the victim’s life”.
She added that “those people who took part in violent racist attacks and destruction last night should be ashamed”.
“Young children being evacuated from their home carrying their teddy bears. It is disgraceful and disgusting. It is racism, it is intimidation and it is absolute thuggery.”
Some of the damage in east Belfast today. These pictures are just around the corner from where the Glider was burnt out and the roads ruined from that. pic.twitter.com/Poa4walizz
— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) June 10, 2026
Meanwhile, British prime minister Keir Starmer remarked that the violent disorder was “totally unjustified”.
Speaking at the beginning of Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, he remarked that “people are rightly sickened by the horrific attack on Monday night in north Belfast”.
“But, let me be clear, the acts of violence and arson that followed are totally unjustified.”
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