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Anti-immigration protests have escalated into clashes with police in several towns in Northern Ireland this week, marking a new wave of unrest to hit the United Kingdom.

Disorder in towns across the region continued for a fourth night on Thursday. In Portadown, County Armagh, a crowd used bricks and masonry from a derelict building to throw at police.

About 40 officers have been injured, and 15 arrests have been made.

Protests began in Ballymena, a town of about 31,000 people located 40km (25 miles) northwest of the city of Belfast, on Monday when two Romanian 14-year-old boys were arrested on suspicion of sexually assaulting a teenage girl.

The most intense violence took place on Tuesday in Ballymena, when hundreds of masked rioters attacked police and set buildings and cars on fire. A smaller crowd threw rocks, fireworks and petrol bombs at police on Wednesday, as police officers responded with water cannon.

Masked rioters also set fire to a leisure centre in Larne, about 30km (19 miles) away from Ballymena, on the coast, where some immigrant families had been given shelter following the unrest in Ballymena.

Violence also spilled over to the cities of Belfast, Coleraine, Newtownabbey, Carrickfergus, Antrim and Lisburn.

What happened in Ballymena?

Riots in Ballymena erupted after the Romanian teenagers appeared in Coleraine Magistrates’ Court on Monday on sexual assault charges, which they denied. A Facebook post advertised a “peaceful protest to show our anger at what cannot and will not be tolerated in this town”.

The planned gathering began in Ballymena at 7:30pm (18:30 GMT). A crowd assembled at Clonavon Terrace in the town, where the alleged assault had taken place, and police officers presided over a largely peaceful demonstration.

Police said several masked individuals later broke away from the group and began erecting barricades and attacking private properties housing immigrants. They also attacked police officers with smoke bombs, fireworks, bottles and bricks, leading to clashes which have continued for several days since.

Some residents placed UK flags or signs in their windows reading “British household” and “locals live here” in a bid to avoid being targeted.

Sky News reported seeing ethnic minority residents of the town “packing up suitcases and leaving their homes”.

One mother of two, Mika Kolev, told the BBC her home had been damaged by rioters on Tuesday night. She said she intended to leave her home with her family and is considering moving back to Bulgaria.

“This is my house, I pay rent,” she said. “I feel like this is my country, this is my city. My daughter was born here. It’s very scary.”

Who are the rioters?

The identity of the hundreds of people – many masked and hooded – who attacked immigrant households and businesses was not immediately clear.

In the past, this sort of violence has usually taken place in towns like Ballymena, which are a stronghold of UK unionism. However, there were media reports that Catholics had also joined the protests this time.

Northern Ireland endured decades of conflict between unionists – largely Protestants who want it to remain within the UK – and nationalists – primarily Catholics who wanted to reunite with the rest of Ireland.

Paramilitary groups played a significant role in the sectarian conflict known as the Troubles, which lasted for about 30 years from the late 1960s to 1998, when the Good Friday Agreement established a power-sharing arrangement.

The agreement, however, has faced opposition from some unionist groups, and some grievances remain unresolved.

“Some working-class unionist areas feel as if they’ve lost out during the peace process,” sociologist John Nagle, who lectures at Queen’s University in Belfast, told Al Jazeera. “I think the sort of grievances about the peace process are being grafted onto the wider concerns about immigration.”

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said at this stage there was no evidence of unionist paramilitary involvement in the recent violence in the town. However, a report published last month by the independent human rights group Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ) points to a connection.

The study, titled Mapping Far Right Activity Online in Northern Ireland, analysed seven incidents of anti-immigrant protests that have taken place in Northern Ireland since 2023.

Daniel Holder, the organisation’s director, said the latest unrest followed a “fairly familiar pattern”.

“What we noticed … is that they’re all being called and taking place in areas where there is significant loyalist activity,” and are featuring a “degree of paramilitary control”, he told Al Jazeera.

Holder also said such riots have mostly taken place during the summer, coinciding with the loyalist marching season, a tradition among Protestant and Loyalist communities that runs from Easter Monday to September.

He struck a note of caution over accounts suggesting the involvement of Catholic nationalists in the unionist stronghold of Ballymena and said the notion of a broader “coming together” of the two historic rivals was unlikely.

What are the main issues driving the unrest?

Immigration appears to be the main concern for protesters. Since 2015, more than 1,800 Syrian refugees have been settled in Northern Ireland via the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme, which was renamed the Vulnerable Persons Relocation Scheme (NIRRS) in 2020.

General immigration has been on the rise as well.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) assembly member Paul Frew told the BBC that tensions over this have been rising for some time in Ballymena and people were “frightened about illegal immigration”.

Anger about austerity policies – and the retraction of welfare programmes – since the global financial crisis of 2008 has compounded concerns about immigration.

Grievances over poor housing conditions and housing shortages, in particular, have been used to scapegoat migrants and to favour a narrative of “mass uncontrolled migration that simply is not factually true”, Holder said.

The CAJ report, he said, found no clear correlation between the areas where violence has flared up in Northern Ireland since 2023 and poverty rates or high immigration rates.

“When you look at the pattern of where attacks are taking place, they’re not in the most deprived areas,” Holder said. “What this points to is that attacks involve particular far-right elements, including some elements of loyalist paramilitary organisations, rather than this being tied to either migration levels or deprivation.”

Does Northern Ireland have high rates of immigration?

Official figures from the Northern Ireland Assembly show that it is the least diverse part of the UK, with 3.4 percent of the population identifying as part of a minority ethnic group, compared with 18.3 percent in England and Wales and 12.9 percent in Scotland.

According to the most recent census data in 2021, immigration to Northern Ireland is relatively low, but it is rising. The percentage of the population born outside of the UK rose from 6.5 percent in 2011 to 8.6 percent in 2021.

How have Northern Irish leaders responded to the violence?

Some ministers have been accused of fanning the flames of unrest.

Several ministers condemned the violence in strong terms. First Minister Michelle O’Neill said the “racist and sectarian attacks on families” were “abhorrent and must stop immediately”.

Finance Minister John O’Dowd described the attackers as “racist thugs”, while Justice Minister Naomi Long said the violence was “completely unjustified and unjustifiable”. Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, who leads the Police Service of Northern Ireland, said, “Hate-fuelled acts and mob rule do nothing but tear at the fabric of our society.”

On Thursday, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons rejected calls for him to resign over a social media post in which he revealed the location of the leisure centre in Larne that was later attacked.

Tyler Hoey, a Democratic Unionist Party councillor and local representative, condemned the violence but also accused the UK government of taking “busloads” of unvetted migrants to the area.

Sociologist John Nagle, who lectures at Queen’s University in Belfast, told Al Jazeera that several unionist politicians condemned the riots while repeating the unfounded claim that Ballymena had become “a dumping ground” for migrants.

“Although the government has quickly come out to denounce the protests, to some extent that has been caveated by some politicians who are trying to use this as a way to highlight their opposition towards migration and refugees,” Nagle said.

Are most people in Northern Ireland concerned about rising immigration?

Sociologist Ruth McAreavey, who lectures at Newcastle University, said general surveys show that Northern Ireland has become more welcoming towards migrants over time and less likely to want to see reduced levels of immigration.

The Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey found that 94 percent of respondents in 2024 said they would be willing to accept a person from a minority ethnic group in their area, compared with only 53 percent who said they would feel comfortable in 2005.

However, McAreavey said fast-paced demographic changes have taken place within a “socially conservative place” as it navigates global economic upheavals, including the decline of its predominantly industrial economy, most notably in the shipbuilding and textile sectors.

“There is a level of discontent that people are taking to the streets,” McAreavey said, adding that this was compounded by austerity measures that rolled back the welfare state.

“The lack of those resources does not help for the incorporation of different social groups into society and to help achieve social cohesion,” she said. “People feel they’re not in control and things are happening to them, as opposed to a more natural, organic change.”

JAI OPETAIA inflicted the “worst broken jaw ever seen” by the doctor who saved Caludio Squeo’s face.

Australia’s 29-year-old cruiserweight king had to defend his IBF crown against the brave Italian on Sunday night.

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And he did so with his trademark ruthless brilliance, battering the previously unbeaten man inside five one-sided rounds.

A body shot dropped Squeo in the fourth and a lead right hook from the South Coast southpaw in the fifth broke his mouth and dreams.

Opetaia’s Tasman team looked after the 34-year-old, rushing him to hospital where he got expert care and the diagnoses that left him needing a minimum of THREE metal plates to reinforce his jaw.

“He has two breaks,” Dr Shannon Webber explained to the team in a video shared – with full permission – with SunSport.

“He was obviously clipped here and then it’s gone ‘BANG’.

“And, when there is one fracture, there is always an exit break. It’s like a ring that always breaks in two spots.

“And there is a piece of fragmented bone left floating in his left cheek.”

Despite the brutal injuries suffered, as soon as Squeo came out of theatre, he helped praise on Opetaia and his classy team for their phenomenal assault on thr 14st 4lbs division and their decency outside the ropes.

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“I just came out of surgery to fix the two fractures I sustained in my jaw during the match,” he explained.

“The operation went very well. I’m fine.

“I learned right after the match that Opetaia was concerned about my condition and told his team to take care of me in every way possible.

“This shows us who the current IBF heavyweight champion truly is – not just a boxing phenomenon – but a real man, endowed with great sensitivity and heart.

“This is a boxing story driven by extreme men, filled with incredible tension, but also by boundless mutual respect.”

Opetaia – who overcame a broken jaw during his gruelling 2022 win over Mairis Briedis – now has a unification against Gilberto Ramirez on his wish list.

“Next fight Zurdo Ramirez, he’s mentioned me, he’s told me he will fight me next after his mandatory,” Opetaia said.

“Let’s get it on, I’m chasing that belt, let’s go.”

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Fast bowler Jamie Overton has been ruled out of England’s remaining two one-day internationals against West Indies with a broken finger.

Overton suffered a broken little finger while attempting to take a return catch during England’s huge win in the series-opener at Edgbaston on Thursday.

The 31-year-old immediately left the field for treatment but came back on to bowl and took three wickets.

Overton is expected to be out for about a month, so will also miss the three T20s against West Indies that follow the ODIs.

No replacement has been called up for the second ODI in Cardiff on Sunday, when England could secure the series.

The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) says that “hordes of hungry people” have broken into a food supply warehouse in central Gaza.

Two people are reported to have died and several others injured in the incident, the programme said, adding that it was still confirming details.

Video footage from AFP news agency showed crowds breaking into the Al-Ghafari warehouse in Deir Al-Balah and taking bags of flour and cartons of food as gunshots rang out. It was not immediately clear where the gunshots came from.

In a statement, the WFP said humanitarian needs in Gaza had “spiralled out of control” after an almost three-month Israeli blockade that was eased last week.

The WFP said that food supplies had been pre-positioned at the warehouse for distribution.

The programme added: “Gaza needs an immediate scale-up of food assistance. This is the only way to reassure people that they will not starve.”

The WFP said it had “consistently warned of alarming and deteriorating conditions on the ground, and the risks imposed by limiting humanitarian aid to hungry people in desperate need of assistance”.

Israeli authorities said on Wednesday that 121 trucks belonging to the UN and the international community carrying humanitarian aid including flour and food were transferred into Gaza.

Israel began to allow a limited amount of aid into Gaza last week. However, UN Middle East envoy Sigrid Kaag told the UN Security Council this was “comparable to a lifeboat after the ship has sunk” when everyone in Gaza was facing the risk of famine.

A controversial US and Israeli-backed group – the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) – was also established as a private aid distribution system. It uses US security contractors and bypasses the UN, which said it was unworkable and unethical.

The US and Israeli governments say the GHF, which has set up four distribution centres in southern and central Gaza, is preventing aid from being stolen by Hamas, which the armed group denies doing.

The UN Humans Right Office said 47 people were injured on Tuesday after people overran one of the GHF distribution sites in the southern city of Rafah, a day after it began working there.

Another senior UN official told journalists on Wednesday that desperate crowds were looting cargo off of UN aid trucks.

Jonathan Whittall, the head of the UN’s humanitarian office for the occupied Palestinian territories, also said there was no evidence that Hamas was diverting aid coordinated through credible humanitarian channels.

He said the real theft of relief goods since the beginning of the war had been carried out by criminal gangs which the Israeli army “allowed to operate in proximity to the Kerem Shalom crossing point in Gaza”.

The UN has argued that a surge of aid like the one during the recent ceasefire between Israeli and Hamas would reduce the threat of looting by hungry people and allow it to make full use of its well-established network of distribution across the Gaza Strip.

A BRITISH tourist has been arrested and extradited to Portugal after a teenager was brutally stabbed to death with a broken bottle in Lisbon.

The 27-year-old fugitive was bundled on a flight back to the Portuguese capital and remanded in custody after losing a battle against his forced return.

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He is expected to stand trial over the killing of Daniel Galhanas, 19, who was stabbed in the neck in the city’s party hotspot Bairro Alto in the early hours of October 14, 2023.

Daniel was reportedly attacked while trying to defend a friend during a violent bust-up between rival groups – one of which included British holidaymakers.

Initial reports claimed the teen’s pal had tried to rob the tourist and his friends as part of a gang of thieves targeting foreigners in the area.

But Daniel’s family strongly deny he had any involvement in criminal activity – insisting he was simply trying to help a friend in trouble when he was fatally attacked.

Footage of the incident shows a man hurling a bottle at Daniel’s friend before picking up the broken glass and stabbing Daniel, who stumbles before collapsing in a pool of blood.

He went into cardiac arrest at the scene and was rushed to São José Hospital by volunteer firefighters – but died shortly after from his injuries.

Video from the night shows chaos erupting on the street near Largo do Calhariz, with a dozen people brawling as cars drive past the carnage.

Confirming the dramatic arrest and extradition, Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria said they had worked with UK police and judicial authorities to track down the 27-year-old suspect.

He is believed to have committed first-degree murder in 2023 in Largo do Calhariz, in Lisbon’s Bairro Alto district.

They said the crime took place between 4am and 5am on October 14, following a violent altercation between two rival groups.

“The victim ended up being hit in the neck with a broken glass bottle, which caused serious injuries and led to his death on the spot,” a spokesman said.

Officers said the suspect and his group fled the scene immediately after the attack.

They explained that a probe led by the PJ’s Lisbon and Tagus Valley Directorate resulted in the suspect being identified and an international arrest warrant being issued.

“The suspect, a foreign national, was eventually located and arrested in the United Kingdom, where he travelled to the day after the murder,” they added.

He has since appeared before judicial authorities in Portugal and been remanded in pre-trial custody.

At the time of the horror attack, local reports named Daniel as the young man seen in a disturbing viral video being stabbed with a glass shard before collapsing.

Police told his devastated family they were hunting an “English tourist” in connection with the killing.

A relative said: “An Englishman throws a glass bottle at his friend, who breaks it. The same individual picks up the pieces of glass and hits Daniel, who stood in front of his friend to defend him.

“The group of Englishmen flee and are chased by Daniel’s friends. He was left behind to faint with a friend, as the video shows.”

The family have repeatedly rejected claims Daniel was linked to a gang, saying he was a local boy from Odivelas who was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

A volunteer fire team who found Daniel bleeding on the street tried to save him – but later had their own vehicle attacked in a separate incident.

Commander Débora Alves said: “I don’t connect one thing to the other, but, shortly after the murder, a man was arrested for having stoned the window of one of our cars.

“The vehicle was inoperable after the attack.”

‘Numbers don’t lie,’ but certainly deceive in India. Behind every celebration of prosperity is a harsher reality of exclusion, injustice, and hunger. This isn’t simply economic inequality; it’s a catastrophe masquerading as progress. India’s economic narrative, which is frequently portrayed as one of “unstoppable growth” and technological dominance, begins to crack under scrutiny. Official numbers put India’s per capita income at roughly $2,800. But this figure, like the country’s projected image of a growing power, is misleading. When billionaires like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani are excluded from the equation, the income level scarcely changes. However, excluding the top 1% and top 5% from the formula reduces the value to $1,730 and $1,130, respectively, which is lower than in some sub-Saharan African nations. What seems to be a statistical recalibration uncovers a more terrible truth: India’s progress is not merely unequal but fundamentally discriminatory.

This distortion is not an accounting oddity. It is an outcome of an economic approach that prioritizes accumulation over distribution. The sparkling pictures of India’s space missions, unicorn business enterprises, and diplomatic gatherings mask a harsher ground reality in which over 800 million Indians rely on free food rations for their survival. This is not a minor statistic; it is the distinguishing characteristic of India’s development trajectory.

The Illusion of Aggregate Growth

The illusion of aggregate growth has persisted in part because it serves a political function. Modern economic theory cautions against using averages in isolation. As Amartya Sen, a notable Indian economist, correctly cautioned, “Averages are often misleading when inequality is rampant.” This warning has been ignored in India’s policy settings, where GDP development has been used as a symbol of national pride, covering the erosion of basic human rights. This conflict between growing GDP and rising hunger demonstrates the decoupling of national wealth from human well-being, which John Rawls’ theory of justice as fairness would characterize as a failure of social institutions. Growth cannot be considered just if it fails to improve the lives of the poor citizens. In India, the increase is clearly benefiting the elites; the top 1% currently owns more than 40% of the country’s wealth. In any just society, such a concentration of resources would raise alarms. In India, it is hailed as a symbol of national achievement.

India’s K-Shaped Recovery and the “Trickle-Down” Myth

The COVID-19 epidemic indicated this structural disparity further, resulting in what economists refer to as a “K-shaped recovery.” The rich elite saw their fortunes increase dramatically, while low-income workers, daily wage laborers, and rural people saw widespread unemployment and pay collapse. With over 90% of India’s workers laboring in the informal sector, this was far from a small crisis; it was economic collapse camouflaged as resilience. Nonetheless, officials adhered to the flawed concept of trickle-down economics, providing corporate bailouts and tax breaks while ignoring health, education, and rural livelihoods. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz has frequently warned that “trickle-down economics is a myth.” Inequality does not accelerate growth; rather, it slows it down. However, India continues to promote the wealthy through tax breaks, corporate bailouts, and lax laws, while insufficiently funding public health and education.

The Global Image vs. Domestic Realities

This internal difference is in sharp contrast to India’s self-proclaimed global reputation. In diplomatic circles, India is portrayed as a counterbalance to China, a technology powerhouse, and a rising climate leader. However, this is only a façade. Behind the glamour of moon landings and semiconductor ambitions is a country that houses about 33% of the world’s hungry children, according to UNICEF. These are not the features of a rising power. They are signs of a troubled society, not because of its objectives, but because of how it pursues them.

The gap between perception and reality is not novel. Partha Chatterjee, a political theorist, notably articulated the “politics of the governed,” in which the impoverished are regulated by governmental paternalism rather than empowered through structural transformation. The Indian state continues to create a narrative of modernity and strength for external consumption while depending on ration cards and token welfare measures to keep the populace calm. The elite are exalted, while the others are just administered.

A Colonial Continuity of Economic Extraction

India’s wealth inequality at present follows colonial extractive patterns. Dadabhai Naoroji’s “Drain Theory,” which stated that British colonization took India’s wealth without proper reinvestment, has eerie parallels in the present. Now, the corporate-financial elite, centered in metropolitan hubs such as Mumbai, Bangalore, and Delhi, act as internal colonists, enriching themselves while abusing workers and ignoring fundamental public services. India’s federal economic model exacerbates this split, as income remains concentrated in a few affluent states while significant portions of the country — from Bihar to Jharkhand — suffer from poverty, resulting in widespread internal migration and deepening social fragmentation.

Food Insecurity as a Political Choice

Food insecurity is at the root of this catastrophe, caused by policy failure rather than scarcity. India is a major producer of rice, wheat, and pulses internationally. Nonetheless, hunger endures on a massive scale. The Public Distribution System (PDS), while seemingly extensive on paper, is rife with corruption, exclusion mistakes, and inefficiencies. Access to food is still determined by social class, gender, and land ownership. In this perspective, hunger is not a natural calamity but a political decision. It is the unavoidable result of a system that refuses to transfer resources, defend the disadvantaged, or abolish entrenched privilege.

India’s fixation with GDP growth has evolved into an instrument of denial, a statistical mask worn by an elite class unable to confront the hardship that most Indians face on a daily basis. The World Bank may record billions of dollars in economic activity, but it does not include the girl child in rural Rajasthan who drops out of school owing to starvation or the farmer in Vidarbha who is driven to suicide by debt. India’s economic miracle, as frequently represented in Western media and diplomatic circles, is based on the purposeful marginalization of these people. Instead of correcting the failing paradigm, the Indian state has militarized it. Growth numbers are displayed at global conferences, while dissident voices—academics, journalists, and civil society—are repressed or labeled as “anti-national.” Instead of fixing the system, the state is cleaning up the truth. This is not development. This is deceit.

Conclusion

India’s economic model, lauded by its political elites and promoted to the world as the triumphant tale of the Global South, is in desperate need of scrutiny. India’s global image as a growing power is based on ethically and economically unsound assumptions. The sparkle of global conferences and billionaire meetings obscures a sobering reality: a country where the prosperity of a few masks the suffering of many. Real power comes from justice, equality, and dignity, not GDP stats or orbiting satellites. And unless India decides to raise its poor rather than just projecting its affluent, the mirage of prosperity will remain just that: a delusion.

Australia’s code-crossing star Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii is to have surgery to fix a fractured jaw, putting the 21-year-old under pressure to be fit for the British and Irish Lions tour.

Suaalii was concussed in a collision with Waratah’s team-mate Andrew Kellaway during their defeat by Queensland Reds on Friday.

It was then found that he had a “small, undisplaced fracture” which needed an operation.

Suaalii is likely to be sidelined for at least four weeks.

“This is unfortunate for us and especially for Joseph. We wish him all the best in his recovery and return to full health,” Waratahs coach Dan McKellar said.

“We will do all we can to facilitate his recovery in consultation with Rugby Australia to have him in the best shape possible for his availability for the Wallabies.”