Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage is leading opposition calls for stricter immigration policies amid national unrest triggered by a Sudanese migrant’s attempted beheading of a local in Belfast, Northern Ireland.Belfast, a city historically scarred by sectarian violence, experienced some of its worst rioting in years on Tuesday, this time against immigration. Organized groups masked and clad in black launched organized attacks against migrant housing, public transportation, and police. It was the city’s third major anti-immigration riot in three years, with the last occurring exactly one year prior.As prominent British figures dashed to condemn the violence, opposition leaders have portrayed the unrest as an inevitable outcome of the Labour Party government’s immigration and social policies. Much of Reform UK’s calls have been broad demands to restrict immigration, but several specific policies have been pushed after the attempted beheading on Monday.
On Wednesday, Reform demanded that the United Kingdom implement a blanket ban on visas from Sudan.
“A Reform government will issue a ban on visas for anyone from Sudan,” Farage said in a statement. “Immigration policies championed by the Tories and Labour have led to horrific consequences. Consequences which are unfolding every day before our eyes. A man was almost beheaded in Belfast. This was imposed upon the British people. Nobody voted for this.”
