A Sudanese woman who came to Northern Ireland as a refugee in 2016 says her community is "terrified" following the Belfast knife attack.

Twasul Mohammed and others have been helping some of the families who were forced out of their homes on Tuesday night when gangs of masked men burnt out homes and vehicles.

"When the attack happened on Monday night, we knew this would be coming," she told the BBC's Good Morning Ulster programme.

"I have seen women and kids terrified and in shock," she said.

"Everyone is terrified, we are keeping our kids at home. I haven't sent my kids to school since it happened and everyone is worried and tearful."

As we reported earlier, there have been a number of incidents of healthcare workers being abused or targeted while on their way to and from work.

Patricia McKeown from the union Unison, says a nurse with "a different skin colour was chased into the Ulster Hospital by four masked men".

The South Eastern Health Trust says it is "horrified" by the incident and "utterly condemns" it.

"This nurse bravely insisted on remaining in the Ulster Hospital to care for the most vulnerable in our community. Her behaviour is in stark contrast to the behaviour of the people who terrified her as she tried to do her job," the Trust says.

Meanwhile, The Belfast Trust says the recent incidents of civil unrest are "deeply worrying" and it's "appalled" that some of its staff have been subjected to racist abuse.

"Any abuse of our staff will not be tolerated, this is unacceptable behaviour and we would encourage anyone subjected to racist abuse to report each incident to the PSNI and to tell their line manager."

Regarding the protests, Maitiu Mág Tighearnán says: "Everybody is entitled to the right of opinion and the right to protest.

"[But] when it turns violent then you lose sight of the protest and what it actually stands for."

He says a local shop which has been there for 15-20 years was attacked, adding the owners have grandchildren born in Northern Ireland.

"We have people in our society who contribute towards our economy, who contribute towards our country, so attacking those people makes no sense," he says, adding the burning of a bus in Belfast on Tuesday also "sets [things] back so many years".

Maitiu Mág Tighearnán says he has been "overwhelmed" by the reaction.

"This is all new to me, I'm someone who tries to keep a low profile, I don't like too much attention on myself."

He says while people have described what he did as "heroic", he said for him it's a "natural reaction that took place at that time".

Mág Tighearnán says he would love to meet with Stephen when he is well enough, and has spoken to a member of the Ogilvie family.

"It's not that there's anything to be thankful for, we're just glad that we were able to intervene when we could," he says.

The man who intervened in Monday night's knife attack, and who many have credited with saving Stephen Ogilvie's life, says in his first broadcast interview it was his "natural reaction" to help.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Maitiu Mág Tighearnán says he was driving with a friend to a petrol station having just dropped his son off at hurling practice and saw a car blocking the road.

He says there was a woman inside the car who looked "quite panicky" and then saw what he thought was a fight between two men on the road.

He says his friend got straight out of the car trying to break it up, but after spotting the knife he came running back to the car.

Mág Tighearnán says they then got the hurling stick from the boot of the car and his instinct "was just to run straight across".

"There's a man lying there, I just heard 'he's being stabbed', there was blood everywhere. The first thing is that man needs help, so it's a natural reaction for me and most people that I know would also do the same."

Paul McLaren
BBC Scotland news website

In Scotland, dozens of people staged a protest last night outside a hotel that has been used to house asylum seekers.

Police Scotland say the demonstration in Greenock passed off without serious incident.

There was no repeat of the violent disorder across central Scotland which led to three men being arrested on Tuesday evening. Five people – including two police officers – were injured after hundreds of people wearing masks marched through Glasgow city.

Assistant Chief Constable Alan Waddell previously said people were "attacked because of the colour of their skin”.

Louise Cullen
BBC News NI

Debris still littered the Antrim Road near Sandyknowes Roundabout, north of Belfast this morning.

Cars were approaching it gingerly first thing, driving through it carefully and in some cases turning back.

Street cleaners have since been out removing the bricks, garden clippings, melted plastic and pieces of metal that were scattered over the road.

Some metal debris has sunk into the tarmac which melted in the heat of the fires set last night and council staff are struggling to dig much of it out.

Image source, Pacemaker

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

As we have just reported, the remains of cars and burnt-out bins have been left in the street following a standoff between police and protesters.

Debris also remains strewed across the street and a building, which was understood to be derelict, has been charred.

8 June, 22:30 BST: A 30-year-old Sudanese man - later named as Hadi Alodid - is arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a knife attack in Belfast on Monday night. Footage begins to circulate on social media of the attack.

9 June: Police Service Northern Ireland say the victim has suffered significant injuries to his eyes, back and face.

9 June, 19:30: Protesters start to gather on streets and block roads in Northern Ireland. Some have been peaceful protests, but by 21:30 police say they’re dealing with “sporadic pockets of disorder”.

A bus is set on fire on Newtownards Road in Belfast and elsewhere cars are set alight and houses targeted by stone-throwers. In another scene, about 100 masked men kicked in doors and broke windows down, saying they were “getting the foreigners out”.

By 22:45, multiple homes are set on fire, and families including a two-month-old baby and a 70-year-old man with dementia are evacuated. Overnight, the fire service attended 62 incidents, mostly in the greater Belfast area.

Protests also take place elsewhere in the country: in Glasgow, where Police Scotland say five people were injured, and also in Edinburgh, Ayr, and Southampton.

10 June: Alodid appears in court charged with attempted murder, as well as possession of a knife in a public place and threats to kill an NHS worker. The victim of the knife attack is named in court as Stephen Ogilvie, and his family say the disorder is “not welcome”.

10 June, 20:00: Police use a water canon to disperse protesters after about 200 people gather in Glengormley, eight miles north-west of Belfast city centre. Some individuals damaged properties to throw objects towards police. Disorder breaks out elsewhere, but is subdued compared to Tuesday night.

11 June: This morning, the UK secretary of state for Northern Ireland Hilary Benn, says a sense of fear "has spread amongst ethnic minority people" after nights of violence.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has released images of people they would like to speak to, external in connection with the serious public disorder in Belfast on Tuesday.

They are asking the public if they can help identify the individuals and are also appealing to those pictured to come forward to police themselves.

Rowley's comments come as political leaders and the family of the knifing victim warn of messaging on social media fuelling the violence.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning, Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn says "people who live a long, long way from Northern Ireland" and know nothing about the country are "trying to stoke and fan the flames of this disorder".

Asked whether he is referring to Elon Musk, Benn says: "I'm talking about all of those who are responsible for social media platforms."

Alongside their calls for calm on Wednesday, knifing victim Stephen Ogilvie's family also said they had been forced to clarify that he was in a stable condition after witnessing "a lot of false information circulating on social media".

It followed a statement from police warning against "totally unacceptable" social media posts, with some "putting lives at risk" by posting address details online. The homes of foreign nationals were targeted on Tuesday night.

Image source, PA Media

London's top police officer says he is monitoring the "disturbing scenes" from Northern Ireland, while his force is keenly aware of the risk of social media-fuelled disorder.

While the violence has centred on Belfast and surrounding areas, Sir Mark Rowley tells the BBC's Today programme there is an ongoing risk from extremist online commentary - particularly from young men who become "violence-fixated individuals".

"They are wading through Islamist beheadings, right-wing violence, school shooting videos from America, misogynistic violence online, and they're not adopting an ideology, they're just becoming obsessed with the subject of violence," he says.

The Met Police commissioner adds that the risk of violence is also being driven in part online by "malign factors overseas".

"This is quite a difficult issue, where other countries want to sow disorder on the streets of the UK," he says.

Alliance Party MLA for South Antrim, John Blair, earlier spoke to BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme about what he described as a "rampage of violence and destruction" on the streets of Glengormley last night.

"The actions of those involved when they were prevented from reaching their intended target tells me that their intention was never peaceful," Blair said. "Fear and terror was brought to a peaceful community."

He said there was "some degree of coordination" behind the protests.

"We all need to be careful with our language around what is sometimes called 'peaceful protest'," he said. "Protest is not peaceful if a local business or a local facility has been advised or instructed to close in order to facilitate that protest."

Claire Graham
BBC News NI

Residents are waking up to scenes of destruction on their doorsteps in Glengormley, just outside of Belfast.

The charred remains of burnt-out cars, furniture and wheelie bins are left after protesters set them alight in a standoff with police on the Antrim Road last night.

Broken masonry, bricks, bottles scatter across the road. Chunks of paving ripped up from driveways lie discarded.

And then there is a burnt-out home, understood to have been derelict. The roof has disappeared, the chimneys charred and blackened. It sits between two homes, in an area where elderly people live alongside young families. There were fears the blaze would catch neighbouring properties.

One resident said she was "disgusted", describing the fire lit outside her home as "terrifying", with youths gathering in her front garden. She said didn’t know what they’d do next, adding she was too scared to even look at the window.

Ryan Williams, CEO of Connected Health, a provider of private homecare services, says the entire health and social care system in Northern Ireland is "very reliant" on skilled migrants carers and nurses.

He says windows have been broken at one of their locations, they have had to move staff from their homes and have had to take staff off shifts.

"If you’re a person of any colour, whether you’ve lived here for generations or whether you’ve come here in the last number of years to provide this much needed skilled care, essentially you’re at risk," Williams says.

“Our carers have been amazing, we haven’t missed a single call, which is just testament to the courage and bravery of our carers out on the ground, but it hasn’t been without its challenge, for sure."

Trade union Unison says it has been helping "terrified" health workers from overseas after receiving reports of them being followed to and from work, being intimidated or becoming afraid to leave their homes.

Patricia McKeown, regional secretary with Unison, tells Good Morning Ulster that when the "horrific" incident happened in north Belfast on Monday night, they saw "the call to arms on social media we knew immediately our members from overseas were going to be under threat".

"We went to the mode we normally go into to try protect people. [We] negotiated with employers, we talked about the need for protection to and from work and for alternative shift arrangements and, indeed, for accommodation where necessary," McKeown says.

She says that yesterday evening, a nurse with "a different skin colour was chased into the Ulster Hospital by four masked men".

Despite experiencing the trauma of that incident, McKeown says, the nurse "insisted on doing her shift".

"There is no excuse for any of this. This is racism, pure and simple."

More from Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn, who says twelve police officers were injured during a second night of disorder.

He also says 16 arrests were made during the unrest.

Image source, PA Media

The chair of the NI Policing Board, Brendan Mullan, says police officers are “stretched”.

"The police service has currently 6,300 officers against a recognised need for 7,500 so it lacks resilience," he tells Good Morning Ulster.

He says there have been a “small number” of officers injured through petrol bombs in Carrickfergus and there will be a briefing with the chief constable later today to determine if any officers were injured last night.

He tells the programme there have been meetings between the police and ethnic minority community representatives and there will be another meeting later this evening.

Asked about the alleged attacker's travel route into the UK, Benn says the government is increasing enforcement against abuse of the common travel area that allows travel between Ireland and Northern Ireland.

"We are determined to do more to crack down on illegal migration, and that is why you will see more raids and more detentions," he says.

Benn says a previous system that fast-tracked asylum applications from Sudanese people through a questionnaire is no longer in place, "and anyone who applies now is properly processed".

He stresses that Monday's stabbing was an individual case and the alleged attacker is responsible, "not people who come from Sudan or other countries".

"We have a long and honourable tradition in this country of giving shelter to people who are fleeing war and persecution, and we should be proud of that as a nation."

• The alleged attacker, who is a Sudanese asylum seeker, is understood to have travelled from Sudan to Paris and then on to Dublin, where he caught a bus to Belfast

Northern Ireland Secretary Hilary Benn says the Northern Ireland police service will be receiving assistance from Police Scotland. This will include dog teams "to help with public order control". These sorts of arrangements are "well established", he says.

On suggestions some social media users have been sharing addresses to target online, Benn says: "I'm certainly aware that happened last year in Ballymena."

• For context, violence erupted in Ballymena, County Antrim, last summer with the town's Roma (Gypsy) community and other foreign nationals being targeted

He says it is "completely unacceptable", adding that social media companies have a "very heavy responsibility". That's why the government is going to bring forward new powers next week to make clear that social media companies need to take down illegal content, he adds.

Hilary Benn, the UK secretary of state for Northern Ireland, says thankfully there was less disorder last night and he hopes that means "people are reflecting on the truly shocking scenes we saw on Tuesday night, with people being burnt out of their homes because of the colour of their skin".

"There is no justification for that, and nothing can explain it away, and it's left a lot of people terrified."

Benn tells the BBC's Breakfast programme that he wants to convey the sense of fear that "has spread amongst ethnic minority people" in Northern Ireland after the violence.

"They've heard about, for example, people being stopped in their cars on the way to work to ask what their nationality is."