Seen here at the front of the hate protest at Belfast City Hall is Glen Kane, who is an actual convicted sectarian killer.
Yet the Shankill loyalist killer stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Irish flag-waving republicans who had travelled from Dublin to support the far-right, anti-Muslim demo.
It’s unlikely the republican mob would have had any clue they were teaming up with a man who killed a Catholic, but Belfast witnessed the unthinkable as Ulster loyalists and Irish republicans united together in a festival of hate.
Things turned nasty as missiles including eggs and fireworks were hurled from the ranks of the far-right gathering towards a mass counter-protest which had been organised in opposition to the anti-immigrant hate-mob.
Protesters from Coolock attended the protest in Belfast and were warmly welcomed by flag waving loyalists.
Several fireworks were chucked over the police lines indiscriminately, with one hitting an innocent woman who fell to the ground and required treatment by the PSNI and then an ambulance.
Far-right loyalists — some of whom were filmed giving Nazi salutes — were seen hugging and shaking hands with a group of protesters who had travelled from Coolock in North Dublin, where there have been violent protests over plans to house international protection applicants.
The reason for the far-right protesters to take to the street was bizarrely sparked by the shocking murders of three young schoolgirls at a dance event in Southport Merseyside during the week.
Misinformation about the man suspected to have carried out the attack spread on social media and linked him, falsely, to radical Islam.
This led to shocking violence on the streets of Southport and that has spread to other towns and cities, including London, Hartlepool and Sunderland, where hundreds of people have been arrested.
Cars on fire in the Wellwood Street area of Sandy Row (Photo: Liam McBurney)
Despite the fact a judge lifted a reporting ban naming the man alleged to have murdered the three kids and it was made clear the name spread on social media had been incorrect, it has not stopped the far-right continuing to blame the Muslim community, with mosques becoming targets of protest and attack.
Yesterday an egg smashed into the face of a press photographer and drew blood on his forehead as the loyalist and republican haters cheered and shouted abuse at journalists.
Moments later another far-right protester, with a northern accent, threatened to “rip the throat” out of a Sunday World photographer – in clear earshot of police.
A Dublin man was one of the most vocal and stood shouting vile insults at the counter-protesters, including “You’re standing under the f**king flag of paedophilia” referencing the rainbow flag.
Other Dubliners, draped in tricolours and at times hiding their faces behind masks, appeared to filled with rage as they had to be held back by police officers.
Some held a banner saying ‘Coolock Says No’.
One man shouted, “Dirty scummy b***ards, you paedo-loving c**t. You’ll be laughing when it’s your child f**king murdered” – a clear reference to the tragic Southport murders.
A Dublin-based protester shouts at counter-demonstraters in Belfast yesterday
Incredibly, the far-right loons chanted about paedophiles and killers but we can reveal one of their leading protesters is a convicted killer himself.
In 1992 Glen Kane was part of a gang that battered 35-year-old Catholic Kieran Patrick Abram to death during a riot.
Some of the men used wooden planks with nails in them during the savage attack, which took place in the early hours of the morning near an army barracks at North Howard Street.
Originally charged with murder, the men later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Kane, who was 26 at the time of the killing, was described as being very immature and was sentenced to nine years in jail.
After being released from prison, Kane turned to supporting far-right groups including the British National Party and Britain First.
And he actively campaigned against Syrian refugees, who at the time were fleeing civil war, being re-homed in Northern Ireland.
The anti-immigration mob
Earlier in the day the Antrim, Crumlin and Boucher Roads were blockaded and around 50 protestors gathered outside the Indian centre on Belfast’s Carlisle Circus.
Chants of “Nazis get off our streets’’ were greeted with a barrage of missiles and fire-crackers.
There was a significant security operation with police helicopters overhead.
A counter-protest, organised by Progressive Politics NI, arrived 30 minutes before the far-right had planned to meet up and was addressed addressed by Patrick Corrgian, Amnesty International’s Northern Ireland Director, and trade union leader Mick Lynch of the RMT.
Speaking to the Sunday World Mr Corrigan said the people of Belfast would not allow the haters to win.
“Belfast has become a city of diversity and multi-culturalism, this is not us,” he said, pointing at the anti-immigration protestors.
“We are a city of love, we are welcoming city, this is not a place where we don’t welcome people of colour and creed.”
He slammed those seeking to exploit the tragic triple murder of three young girls in Southport as an excuse to whip up racist tensions.
Firefighters at the scene of a building on fire in the Sandy Row and Donegall Road area (Photo: Liam McBurney)
“From Belfast, we send our support and compassion to all those affected by the awful tragedy in Southport, to the families and friends of the girls who so tragically lost their lives in the most terrible circumstances and to the children and adults who were injured and are still in hospital,” said Corrigan.
A group of far-right protestors marched on a hotel in the south of the city which has been used house asylum seekers. There they smashed windows at the front of the hotel.
At one stage the demonstrators, headed by a Dublin activist, got lost in the maze of streets around the university area as they tried to find the Islamic Centre.
Earlier they had been forced to turn back when angry residents on the Ormeau Road confronted them.
An anti-immigration protest takes place in Belfast City Centre on August 3rd 2024 (Photo by Kevin Scott)
Gerard Rice, once of the Lower Ormeau Concerned Citizens, group confronted the mob which was being tailed by riot police complete with shields.
On the loyalist Sandy Row several business were attacked with windows put in and on nearby University Road the Islamic centre was also attacked.
At the time of going to print there was tense stand-off between a crowd of around 200 people and riot police.
A café on Botanic Avenue was smashed up.
The owner, who has lived here for 35 years said: “I have no words.”
