'A van was set alight and pushed towards my home'
Claire Quinn,
Kelly Bonnerand
Cormac Campbell,BBC News NI
BBC
A man has described his terror as homes were set on fire during a second night of disorder that followed a knife attack in Belfast earlier this week.
Glengormley resident Paul Sharkey said he was "petrified" when he saw masked men walking up his street and setting fire to homes.
A clean-up is under way after disorder was mainly concentrated along one street in the Greater Belfast area, where police deployed water cannon to disperse a crowd.
Riot police came under sustained attack from a group throwing bricks, bottles and pieces of wood at a major roundabout to the north-west of Belfast.
"It was terrifying," Sharkey told BBC News NI.
"A van was sat alight and pushed towards my home. I hardly slept a wink."
Witness who videoed attack
The intimidation and disorder followed a knife attack on Monday, where a man was left with serious injuries, including losing an eye.
A woman who's daughter videoed the attack said it has left her too afraid to leave her house.
Speaking to The Nolan Show, Karen described how her daughter Rachel is now is receiving death threats by people saying she should have done more to help.
"When you're a young 26-year-old girl – I don't know what else she was supposed to do and I for one am glad that she didn't intervene because it could've been a very different story for us," Karen said.
She said Rachel was on her way home from work and was dropped off at her partner's house then received a call from her friend saying that something was going on outside.
When Rachel arrived she shouted "get off him" then went over but saw the knife so she stopped.
She then took her phone out and phoned an ambulance and her friend phoned the police. Rachel then started videoing the attack.
Karen told the programme that she does not know who shared the video online but it was not Rachel or anyone in their family.
After the incident Rachel was taken to hospital and was sedated.
"Every time she closes here eyes she still sees exactly what went on and what happened."
She said this has left Rachel "very, very shaken" and "doesn't want to leave the house".
"She's afraid to go back to work because she doesn't know how she'll feel seeing people…she's just really frightened."
Across the city, on Wednesday, a nurse was walking into work at the Ulster hospital in Dundonald, when she was confronted by masked men and chased.
Her union said she had done nothing wrong apart from having a "different colour of skin" to the majority of people who live in Northern Ireland.
Despite this, the union said, she "bravely" continued with her shift at the hospital.
PA Media
"When we saw the call to arms on social media we knew our overseas members would be under threat," Patricia McKeown from Unison told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster programme.
"There is no excuse for any of this. This is racism, pure and simple," she said.
She said it was "not good enough to call for calm" and urged leaders to take action.
The South Eastern Trust said it was "horrified" that a nurse on her way to work was "chased and intimated".
The union also said health workers had been left terrified after a "threat" was made against those from overseas who work at Whiteabbey hospital, County Antrim.
Meanwhile, staff living in the vicinity of Belfast City Hospital received letters through their doors, telling them to leave their homes or risk being burnt out.
The Belfast Trust said it was "appalled that some of our staff have been subjected to racist abuse".
Health Minister Mike Nesbitt said international workers were "vital and provide an invaluable contribution to their patients and the wider community".
One woman, who is originally from Sudan but who has lived in Northern Ireland since 2016, said families were now scared to stay in their homes.
Twasul Mohammed
Twasul Mohammed, a Sudanese resident of Belfast who works with community groups, said residents who were fearful of reprisals had sought refuge in a church after racial attacks on their homes.
Most of them were Sudanese, Somali, Syrian and Eritrean families, whose addresses had been posted on social media and they were now scared to stay in their houses, she said.
"We went into the houses and evacuated the families because we were on the phone to them," she said.
"They were terrified locking themselves in the bathroom because petrol bombs were being thrown into the houses.
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"I am from Sudan myself, and a lot of the families put out last night are Sudanese as well. Some of them are families, I know they were terrified, kids were crying, women were crying.
"These are people who have fled the war in Sudan, and they are seeing the same things again and living the same things, it is overwhelming."
'There's definitely tension that you see more on the internet'
There was also disorder in Portadown in County Armagh.
On Thomas Street you can see the impact of two nights of trouble - boarded up windows and the telltale sign of melted plastic and tarmac on street corners.
This is a town that has seen significant change in recent years and this part of town more than most.
Local Methodist minister Darrin Thompson's church is on the street.
He said on Tuesday rioters were able to make their way down Thomas Street and caused "significant damage to properties, people's homes and businesses".
"Last night, there was more police, so they were able to hold them back further up the street. So they took the brunt of the attack on last night".
Rev Thompson says that there has been tension in the town for some time.
"You see it a lot on social media, you see the comments, all the time, 'send them home, deport them, they shouldn't be here. They're taking houses, jobs, benefits'.
"There's definitely tension that you see more on the internet, but when things like this happen, you feel the tension spill overv - we felt it very heavily in the town yesterday.
"People feel that they're being pressed out of their own town at times. I don't necessarily fully agree with that, but at the same time, that's how people feel. At the same time, these people are here for reasons, either legally or are asylum seekers, newcomers, migrants - they're also looking for a better life.
"We shouldn't be intimidating them and making them fear, the way they did here on Tuesday night."