https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9qyp2y4z9yo

A man has been arrested following investigations into alleged vigilante behaviour, police have said.

The 37-year-old has been arrested on suspicion of assault, theft and causing criminal damage.

Footage circulating on social media last week showed groups of men stopping and intimidating people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Over the past week, police said they had additional targeted police patrols in east Belfast to "engage, challenge and monitor these groups and provide reassurance to the community".

District Commander Superintendent Gavin Kirkpatrick said: "The activity of these individuals has been generating fear in the community and it has to stop.

"They are confronting and intimidating innocent members of the public, largely on the basis of the colour of their skin.

"Those involved have neither the legal nor the moral authority to do this."

Supt Kirkpatrick said "these groups are not protecting the community from anything".

He added that they were "frustrating" the policing service as they are forcing resources to be redirected.

Séamas de Fáoite has short grey hair, a round face and is wearing light grey square glasses. He is wearing a pink and white stripe shirt with a white t-shirt on beneath it.
Image caption,
The SDLP's Séamas de Fáoite was speaking after talks involving the PSNI and politicians

Speaking earlier, Social Democratic and Labour Party's (SDLP) Séamas de Fáoite said it was "disappointing" that police had yet to make any arrests.

He was speaking after talks involving the PSNI and politicians.

Police had been briefing members of the East Belfast Policing and Community Safety Partnership on their response, which has involved putting extra officers on patrols.

'We need a hate crime bill'
De Fáoite said: "I think it's very disappointing we are still at a stage where we haven't seen any prosecutions or arrests.

"I think people need to see clear action and the police taking a pro-active approach."

He said he accepted the PSNI were stretched in terms of resources and that proposals around hate crime legislation needed to be advanced at Stormont.

"In my view the police should be able to use the public order act in relation to some of these individuals.

"But fundamentally we do need a hate crime bill in Northern Ireland.

"We are not seeing that brought forward by the justice minister.

"The proposals she [Naomi Long] has made, so far, will only come into effect when we get to a prosecution stage, not at a point where we can actually start to tackle those people who are behind this hateful behaviour."

by MourningBennyHarvey

18 comments

  1. Wouldn’t you know de faoite was able to make a comment

  2. Hopefully the first of a few arrests, at least the daft cunts were too busy clout farming videos to worry about self incrimination

  5. Did the police find the Syrian guy they were harassing that went missing last week?

  6. We 100% do not need a ‘hate’ bill. Fuck that. I prefer a government and police force with the bare minimum of power.

    Imagine disliking the idea of Governmemts and their Police Forces/Enforcers have the bare minimum power HAH! Absolute fucking muppets 🤣

    I suppose your average redditor is the sort to hide behind the Police and Government..

  7. Well, that took longer than expected. Good to see them being lifted and some action happening.

    I only today learned that NI doesn’t have the Hate Bill. I’m not sure why that hasn’t been brought forward.

    Anyway, fuck those *vigilantes.*

  10. Cutting the waffle: when predatory behaviour and abuse crawl into the light – doesn’t matter if the creep’s from down the road or fresh off the ferry. They should be yanked up, slapped in cuffs, and put out of circulation. No excuses, no dithering.

    Vigilantism is a fool’s game.. Innocent people get hurt. It muddies the waters, wrecks lives, and gives the real villains an easier ride. But – when it comes to child abuse, sexual violence, and crimes against women, there should be no soft gloves, no PC padding, no mealy-mouthed evasions. Drag it out, name it, nail it.

    And if some imported “cultural practices” are fuelling this filth (in addition to festering local attitudes and misogyny) – the answer isn’t to trot out soggy liberal platitudes.. it’s to expose it, confront it, and stamp it out. Anything less is cowardice dressed up as compassion tbh.

    Good they’ve taken out of commission. Thuggish fools.

  12. Is this why there is a bunch of wankers blocking the newtonards road?

  13. Pinkerton’s Facebook shitshow is praising him for being a leader and a hero. The latest video showing his wee walk to Musgrave PSNI, so emotional, I was almost in tears of joy and excitement. I’m sure his kids would agree if he had a fuckin job and paid for their upbringing instead of running around like a mini-Hitler at 3am in the morning and scrounging every benefit from the DSS. I’m not an advocator of violence of any kind (and I don’t recommend it either) but if I heard that he had been found almost kicked to death in an alleyway I don’t think I’d be upset in the slightest. He’s a cunt.

  14. ![gif](giphy|4FGanTbllJjc5xRiek)

    Ahhahahahhahahahhahahahahahhahahahahah morons.

Comments are closed.