Within an hour after the horrific knife attack in Belfast on Monday night, UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson shared a video of the incident on X, a post that generated 6 million views. In a few hours Elon Musk, the owner of the platform, weighed in, agreeing with the post calling the “results” of politicians.
By Tuesday morning, heavily charged by X, the video was all over the place, and Facebook groups were organizing protests across Northern Ireland and the UK. Figures as far away as the US and the UK continued to add fuel to the fire online, framing the incident as part of a wider anti-white agenda in the West.
On Tuesday evening, violent protests broke out in Belfast, masked rioters torched cars, kicked in the doors of houses believed to be occupied by immigrants, and set fire to those houses.
Politicians were quick to criticize Musk and Robinson, who did not respond to requests for comment, for their role in fueling the violence, but what no one saw was the role played by the white rights organization Active Club and its Youth Club wing in not only dissociating, but also advising and organizing masked youths who attack spears.
The Wire Investigation documented how this global network operated within hours of the incident, showing how groups across the US helped fuel the violence in Belfast. The organization is already analyzing how the protests played out and using it as a template for others to follow, highlighting the “organization and professionalism” of those involved.
“Active Clubs, the fastest-growing neo-Nazi organization worldwide, never misses an opportunity to exploit a crisis for their own hateful purposes,” said Wendy Via, founder and president of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism. “The Belfast protests had barely begun before the loudest voices in the Active Club acted as a network to support apartheid riots and promote international proliferation.”
At around 10:30pm local time on Monday night, emergency services were called to the Kinnaird Avenue area in north Belfast. Soon after, a video was shared online by an unknown person showing the horrific knife attack on Stephen Ogilvie, who was hospitalized with serious injuries to his face and neck, including the loss of his left eye.
Hadi Alodid, 30, from Sudan, was arrested at the scene and has been charged with attempted murder.
After Robinson posted the video, it quickly gained momentum on mainstream social media. US-based X account End Wokeness, which specializes in culture war sharing and inflammatory content, shared a screenshot from the video, with the caption: “An African migrant recently tried to behead a white man in North Belfast, Ireland. The video is too clear to post.” The post has been viewed more than 16 million times.
Musk posted several times about this incident in the following days, drawing the ire of politicians in the UK, but away from the usual platforms like X and Facebook, other groups were also consolidating and making public the reason that they believe a strong response is needed.
A few hours after the attack, at 2:19 a.m. Tuesday morning, the Telegram channel called “White Youth In Revolt”—the name used by all Active Clubs and Youth Clubs—shared a screenshot of the video, writing: “A Negro attacker just tried to behead a white man in the United Kingdom.”
The account usually shares content from Active Clubs in the US, but given the growth of the network outside of America, it has a large following in Europe.
