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Mick Clifford: Pushing fear, inviting anger — How social media outrage outpaced the facts of the Belfast attack

A violent Belfast attack became another flashpoint in a wider debate shaped by anger, politics and misinformation

Protesters set fire to a barricade as police block Antrim Road, at the Sandyknowes roundabout in Newtownabbey. Picture: PA

Sun, 14 Jun, 2026 - 09:16

Mick Clifford is an award-winning investigative journalist and author of seven books.

This week a lot of people got highly animated about a violent incident in the North. The reaction, in this jurisdiction and others, largely encouraged people to be angry and suggested, with precious little evidence, that the incident was indicative of this country and the neighbouring jurisdiction both going to hell in a handbasket.

On Monday evening a man was allegedly attacked by a knife-wielding assailant on a street in North Belfast. Some passersby came to his rescue. Others filmed the incident, which appears very often these days to be an instinct that supersedes rushing to help.

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