Poll shows alarming support in north of Ireland for racist rioters

Research group More In Common (MiC) has published the shocking result of a poll showing that more than 1 in 6 of the north of Ireland’s population are unconcerned about racist rioters burning migrants out of their homes.

Extent of racist attitudes in the north of Ireland

MiC asked participants the following:

In Belfast, some homes and businesses belonging to migrants have been set on fire or attacked. How concerned are you, if at all, about people being forced out of their homes or businesses in Northern Ireland because of their nationality or ethnic background?

13% of respondents said they were either “not very concerned” or “not at all concerned” by ethnic cleansing on their own doorstep. 4% simply weren’t sure whether it was a good idea to potentially murder people in their homes on the basis of migration status, and responded “don’t know”.

Overall, 36% say ‘protests’ were justified

MiC found a series of similarly alarming discoveries while polling the small-minded, hate-filled failed state. Choosing, for some unknown reason, to frame the racist pogrom enthusiasts as “protesters”, MiC asked whether these people were “Standing up for Northern Ireland”. 34% of people said they were. There was a significant divide between unionists and nationalists. In fact, 44% of the former agreed with the premise, but only 25% of the latter did so.

In addition, 13% refused to say it was unjustified to torch businesses owned by migrants; 18% weren’t prepared to stand against threatening politicians with violence; and 19% wouldn’t condemn “intimidating migrants into leaving the area”. 36% overall thought the “protests” were justified. 52% of unionists backed the racist disorder.

People seem to at least recognise the climate these views are creating. 55% reckon the Six Counties are not a safe place for migrants or Muslims. 41% believe black people may also be in danger. These views are backed by spiralling hate crimes statistics. By comparison, only 13% believe the north of Ireland is an unsafe location for white people.

First and foremost, this indicates a shocking level of racism in the year 2026, where you are dramatically less safe purely as a result of your migration status, faith or skin colour. It also has dire implications for public services like health care in the Six Counties. These services rely heavily on people coming from overseas. Many will quite reasonably now go elsewhere rather than come to a bigoted dump where a significant number of people despise their presence.

Racists say “let them all burn”

In a sign of the absurdity around how immigration is discussed, 47% of poll respondents said “Health services and social care” is among the “most important issues facing Northern Ireland”. Yet 44% said immigration, a key part of the solution to understaffed health services, is also a top priority for them. We can be pretty certain these people want less immigration, rather than more. Again, a large divide exists along sectarian lines. 63% of unionists are brainwashed into concern about immigration, yet only 31% of nationalists feel the same.

Migrant homes aren’t the only thing the people of the region are keen to set ablaze. More In Common asked participants on their views regarding local political and social institutions. 46% said they:

…cannot help thinking “just let them all burn”.

This is unsurprising, given how consistently dysfunctional Stormont has been for years. In the context of racist pogroms in the north of Ireland, politicians such as those from the Democratic Unionist Party and Traditional Unionist Voice have failed woefully. They have attended hateful marches and rallies. In addition, they have reinforced the bigoted narratives driving the violence.

They have helped to further entrench the exclusivist, supremacist attitudes embedded within loyalism. The sort of mentality that treats criminality carried out by ‘outsiders’ as cause for racist pogroms, but doesn’t react with similar fury when a court determines that one of their own rapes children.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman