“Outrageous, racist and thuggish behaviour has to be nipped in the bud,” a Belfast judge has said.
Refusing to grant bail to an alleged rioter on Thursday, Mr Justice McAlinden warned that “this type of civil disorder and outrageous, racist and thuggish behaviour has to be nipped in the bud and anyone who is convicted of this offence should face a severe sentence because, plainly, racist violence has no place in civilised society.”
“If we look back as far as 1938 and see the Nazis burning people out of their houses during Kristallnacht, what did that lead to?” the judge asked.
“History tells you that the acceptance of racist violence leads to catastrophe and it must be nipped in the bud.”
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Gary Meehan (38), of Malton Drive in Belfast, accused of riotous behaviour and obstructing a road on June 11th, was applying for bail at the high court in Belfast.
Prosecuting counsel told the judge that with a backdrop of ongoing protests and riots, the charges against Meehan arose as a result of the Upper Malone Road having been blocked.
At about 6.20pm a member of the public contacted police to report he had been threatened at a roadblock and ordered to turn back.
According to the police case, instead of letting the man past, Meehan approached and “jumped on the bonnet while another masked male approaches the driver’s side and threatens violence if they don’t turn back”.
“The defendant steps forward and puts his hand on the car while the crowd becomes very agitated and they’re shouting abuse at him,” a constable told the court.
Meehan was arrested and during police interviews claimed the car approached at speed, the driver was revving the engine and that he was acting “to protect women and children who were close to the protest”.
“He denied jumping on the car, denied making threats to the driver and he said that he did not see any person with a mask,” the court heard.
The prosecutor said, however, “Police do not accept that account,” adding that according to the dashcam footage the engine was not revving, the car was recorded as travelling at 2mph and no women or children were visible.
The judge said he would not grant bail.
“What happened in north Belfast was disgusting,” he said, adding that the attack was being used by others to “bring young people out on the street to engage in an orgy of violence against the immigrant community”.
He said bail would send out entirely the wrong message that, “Okay, we can get scooped by the police but sure, we will be out the next day.”
However, he granted temporary, compassionate bail so that he Meehan could attend the a family funeral on Saturday.
