LAST UPDATE | 6 Aug
ON BELFAST’S DONEGALL Road this afternoon, workers tried to seal off a café that was gutted in violence on Saturday.
Bash Café is one of two businesses owned by people from minority ethnic communities that were set alight during violence that followed an anti-immigration demonstration in Belfast city centre at the weekend.
The inside of Bash Café is black and charred and the smell of smoke still lingers.
Mohammed Idris owns Bash café and told The Journal that it has been completely damaged.
“This is a family business and I don’t know how someone can come and attack it for no reason,” said Idris.
He was at home on Saturday when he saw videos online of his café set alight.
“I was so shocked and saddened, it’s heart-breaking,” said Idris. “The damage is truly massive and my café is gone completely.”
While Idris said it is unlikely he will re-open his café, he said the internet café above it will remain open.
It’s the second time one of Idris’s businesses have been targeted after his computer shop was damaged on Sandy Row last year.
But while Idris was heart-broken by the damage caused to his café, he said he has also been “overwhelmed” by the support he has received since.
“I have also seen the generosity of the people in the GoFundMe page and the messages of support from all over.”
A GoFundMe established to help businesses damaged has so far raised over €130,000.
“I am overwhelmed by the support from so many good people here and it gave me great relief,” said Idris.
He added: “I am part of this community, and I say to the people who did this, ‘we need to have a conversation, we need to understand each other’.
“Dialogue should be the means of communication, not the attacks.”
After speaking to The Journal, a local member of the community approached Idris and gave him a box of traybakes to commiserate with him following the events of the weekend.
Speaking to The Journal afterwards, Patrick Cameron said the violence seen over the weekend and last night was “extremely disappointing”.
“Coming from an area like this, we’ve always had our fair share of problems,” said Cameron.
“But as someone born after the peace process, it feels as though a lot of the progress we’ve made since then may have been for nothing.
“In one night, a lot of the reputation we’ve built as being kind, welcoming people has been undone in the national and international media because of a couple of people causing a load of ruckus for nothing.”
Cameron said there has been “a lot of misinformation going around that people have latched on to”.
He said the “only silver lining” is the number of people who have since come out to show their support to the local businesses impacted.
“I just hope that the people impacted don’t think that these actions speak for the community as a whole,” said Cameron.
Cameron referenced the flag protests from late 2012 and into early 2013 and remarked that “there were a lot of people setting things on fire and tearing up shops”.
The flag protests were staged by loyalists unhappy over a decision to restrict the number of days the Union flag is flown over Belfast City Hall.
“It’s the local people that were affected by the flag protests and when it comes to the disorder seen now, it’s still the local people that are being affected.
“People like Mohammed have been here 10 years, they’re a part of the community and they’ve been serving the community.
“I think it’s up to people who have a little bit more privilege in this area to come out and say, ‘this isn’t what we’re about, this isn’t what we stand for,’ and to reach out a hand.”
Two streets over, Sahara Shisha Café on Belfast’s Botanic Avenue was also targeted on Saturday.
“As you can see, the café is empty,” said owner Rahmi Akyol this afternoon.
“We lost a lot of business and people are scared to come, but we have reopened and hopefully we will rebuild again,” he added.
Akyol told The Journal that he has lived in the area for 35 years and has many good friends from Belfast.
Although Akyol said he was “lost for words” to explain how he felt about the damage, he added: “I believe we can show each other solidarity, support each other and rebuild everything again.”
“I think this stage will pass,” said Akyol. “I was here in the 90s and that time was crazy.
“But we came through that, and we will come through this, I am always positive and things will get better.”
Claire Hanna is an SDLP MLA for South Belfast and she was in the area this afternoon to speak to the business owners whose premises were damaged.
“It’s been really disturbing to see businesses that serve the whole community being targeted,” Hanna told The Journal.
The PSNI are treating the incident as a hate crime and said witnesses reported seeing attackers stamp on the victim’s head.
“There is no cover of legitimate concerns there,” said Hanna, “they attacked that man on the basis of the colour of his skin.”
She said that “people of minority and ethnic backgrounds are really chilled by this and where it is going”.
“We have far-right actors that have been seeding prejudice on social media, and in the mainstream media, for months and years, waiting for trigger events like we’ve just had and it is very worrying times,” said Hanna.
“But a few members of the public literally put themselves in the line of danger to support that man last night, and that’s the comfort you take.”
She added: “This is a city that has been through tough times and knows intolerance and hatred when it sees it. These are not mainstream views.”
And while Hanna said there is a “ready bed of recreational troublemakers here as well”, she also pointed to “many continuing years of paramilitary influence”.
The PSNI today said there is “no doubt” that there was paramilitary involvement in rioting in Belfast last night but were unable to say for certain which specific groups were involved.
“We’ve been pushing back signage being put in neighbourhoods around south Belfast targeting minority ethnic people who are contributing more to this society than and the people attacking them,” said Hanna.
“They’re part of the community and are contributing to it in a very, very practical way.
“That needs to be amplified, the people being targeted aren’t this bolted on ‘other’, they are part of the Belfast life and story and family.”
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