£4m emergency cash provided to PSNI after rioting

The Government has provided £4 million in emergency funding for police in Northern Ireland following last week’s disorder.

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn said the funding would help police cover the resourcing costs of policing the violence, including the bill for requesting 200 officers from other UK forces under Mutual Aid arrangements.

Mr Benn was in Belfast on Thursday to meet with the police and other emergency responders, community groups, volunteers and youth organisations, including those involved in responding to the race-related rioting and attacks.

The violence broke out in response to a stabbing attack on a man in north Belfast last Monday.

Stephen Ogilvie, who is aged in his 40s, lost his left eye in the attack and also sustained deep wounds to his head, face and back.

Sudanese national Hadi Alodid, 30, who successfully claimed asylum in the UK after travelling into Northern Ireland from Dublin in 2023, appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court last week charged with attempted murder over the incident.

Announcing the funding, Mr Benn said: “The horrific knife attack in north Belfast last week understandably caused profound concern and anger across Northern Ireland, and the rest of the UK.

“But we must be clear that the shocking scenes of racist violence that the world witnessed on our streets was not only unacceptable, but utterly shameful.

“The masked thugs who took part do not represent the vast majority of people across Northern Ireland who have worked long and hard to build a shared, peaceful future for all.

“There is no excuse and no justification for this violence, and those responsible will continue to face the full force of the law.

“Our most important duty as Government is to keep the public safe. This £4 million package demonstrates our commitment to supporting the PSNI given the significant challenges they faced in confronting the disorder in order to protect the community.”

On Thursday morning, Mr Benn visited Lendrick Street in east Belfast where several homes and cars were burned out last Tuesday night.

“Two things have come across to me very, very clearly,” he told reporters later.

“The first is that that part of our community – friends, neighbours, who were targeted in that violence last week, are still terrified about what happened, because they fear that they may be next,” he said.

“And the second thing I want to say is that we owe an enormous debt of gratitude to the voluntary and community sector for everything that they did last week to help those affected to find somewhere to stay, to give them what they needed, and we really do need to reflect on what went well and what didn’t go so well, so that we can do better in future.”

PSNI chief constable Jon Boutcher said: “I welcome this funding which will help us cover the extraordinary costs incurred during last week’s violence such as our request for Mutual Aid support.

“With continuing budgetary uncertainty and our critical financial situation, this intervention is absolutely essential to enable the Police Service of Northern Ireland to keep all communities in Northern Ireland safe.”