Does a video from June 2026 show a fire lit by rioters in Belfast, Northern Ireland after a knife attack incident involving a refugee from Sudan? No, that's not true: The video predates the June 8, 2026, knife attack in Belfast. Video of the individuals setting fire to a home was originally published on X almost a year ago, on June 11, 2025. It shows an unrelated incident which occurred in Ballymena, NI, after a peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault erupted into two nights of rioting.
The mislabeled video appeared in a post (archived here) published on X by Tommy Robinson (@TRobinsonNewEra) on June 9, 2026. It was captioned:
HMO's being used to house unvetted fighting age foreign men are being burned down in Northern Ireland tonight following the attempted beheading of man by a Sudanese invader last night.
This is a screenshot from the video included with that post:
(Image source: @TRobinsonNewEra post on X.)
According to the official UK government website (archived here) the term HMO means:
A house in multiple occupation (HMO) is a property rented out by at least 3 people who share facilities like the bathroom and kitchen. It's sometimes called a 'house share'.
June 9, 2026 reporting in the Belfast Telegraph features video footage of a bus in flames (archived here). The article titled "Homes set on fire in Belfast and police car and hijacked bus among vehicles ablaze as disorder erupts" describes the rioting and the incident which sparked it:
The PSNI (Police Service of Northern Ireland) has called for calm across Northern Ireland as disorder broke out on Tuesday night after a man was charged with attempted murder following a serious incident in north Belfast.
Protesters have gathered in various locations causing signficiant [sic] disruption. Homes have been set alight as several fire appliances attend a blaze close to the Crumlin Road, while residents were also evacuated from properties alight in east Belfast.
While there was civil unrest in Belfast on June 9, 2026 -- that is not what the video included with the post shows. A video (archived here) was published on X by @lil_doza on June 11, 2025 (embedded below). This shows the same scene filmed by a different person. The post was captioned:
Racist ferals burning a house of a foreigner in Ballymena, NI. By doing this they're pretending to be the defenders of white women and children.
Racist ferals burning a house of a foreigner in Ballymena, NI.
-- DOZA🧐 (@lil_doza) June 11, 2025
By doing this they're pretending to be the defenders of white women and children. pic.twitter.com/pDIEpRdUUk
The image below compares the 8-second point in the video posted by @TRobinsonNewEra (below left) with the 7-second point in the 2025 video published by @lil_doza (below right). It shows the same fire in the same Ballymena apartment.
(Image source: @TRobinsonNewEra and @lil_doza posts on X.)
A June 11, 2025 BBC article (archived here) titled, "Seventeen police officers injured during second night of Ballymena violence" describes what happened:
Officers fired baton rounds and used a water cannon to disperse protesters as cars were set on fire and the windows of several houses were smashed.
The disorder began on Monday after a peaceful protest over an alleged sexual assault in the County Antrim town.
