The crossroads between Sandy Row and the Donegall Road is a tiny, poor district in comparison to the rest of the relatively affluent constituency of South Belfast. It is here that vacant and dilapidated sites and buildings have undergone a quiet transformation by small businesses, who have invested in the area, providing shops and services for the local community.

These businesses are primarily owned and managed by people from Black and Minority Ethnic groups, including refugees, who have endeavoured to do everything the Home Secretary would require of them – bringing skills, education and know-how as well as building the economy. Whether or not you give these expectations credence, it cannot be argued that these individuals have not done everything they can to contribute to the fabric of our society.

It is a welcome change and one which brings greater diversity and multicultural depth to an area which is dominated by the visible symbols of unionist and loyalist communities. However, the presence and contribution of these business owners has not gone unnoticed by groups and individuals with a racist agenda. Over the course of several months in summer and autumn 2023 these businesses were threatened and attacked on multiple occasions, culminating in arson attacks which completely destroyed a tech business and a local food shop which would have brought money, skills and jobs into the community (for media coverage of these incidents please see links at the bottom of this article).

In one case, we know the perpetrators are violent white men because we can see their faces on the camera footage. The authorities know what we know too, because they have been provided with the footage, multiple times. In another, despite local eyewitnesses and CCTV being available, the arsonists remain unidentified.

We asked them to release the information which shows where attacks are happening and what resources are being deployed in response. At the time were told by the PSNI that they ‘could not go into specific lines of enquiry.’

In response to these events, PPR and affected business owners convened a public meeting on 31st August 2023, to which all political parties, relevant public bodies, community organisations and Departmental representatives were invited. During the course of meeting we asked for answers. We asked the Police Service for Northern Ireland (who initially declined to attend, but attended at the last minute in response to a request from UTV, who were covering the story) and government bodies how they are using public money to assess and respond to the organised racial violence in the area. We asked if they are actively pursuing lines of enquiry into the role of organised paramilitary groups and organised criminals. We asked them to release the information which shows where attacks are happening and what resources are being deployed in response. At the time were told by the PSNI that they ‘could not go into specific lines of enquiry.’

The message of this violence is clear: You are not welcome here.

This response was both surprising and inadequate in light of the pattern of events. The attacks on these shops coincided with other racially motivated hate crimes; Nazi flags erected outside places of worship (again the perpetrator shows up on CCTV), Multicultural centres and businesses burned, weekly protests organised by a coalition of far-right and paramilitary actors intimidating people in their homes and communities, the appearance of racist signs and graffiti in Belvoir, Rathcoole, Finaghy, Antrim.

Over the weeks and months that followed, we and other civil society and media organisations began to investigate the prevalence of the attacks, as well as joining with others to resist a rising tide of racism, through protests, community events and solidarity from local groups.

In the blogs that follow we document our actions and the response of the public bodies tasked with tackling racism.