A makeshift barrier was set on fire near homes in Belfast on the third night of protests over Monday's alleged knife attack.

At least 200 extra police officers were drafted in from the British mainland following 48 hours of turmoil that saw violent clashes between police and protesters.

Groups first lashed out on Tuesday night after a Sudanese asylum seeker was charged with attempted murder.

Hadi Alodid, 30, then appeared in court on Wednesday after Stephen Ogilvie, 44, was left missing an eye and with lacerations.

Scenes were significantly calmer on Thursday as police fielded a robust presence, but there were still pockets where masked groups gathered.

A makeshift barricade involving two industrial bins was built across Newtownards Road in east Belfast and then set on fire.

At least a dozen of the Police Service of Northern Ireland's (PSNI) armoured Land Rovers flooded the road to provide cover for fire crews. 

Around 170 people also gathered in Whiteabbey, north Belfast, but later dispersed without incident.

There was a line of police vehicles in Glengormley, where mobs torched a bungalow and cars on Wednesday night, as the PSNI increased its presence across the region.

Some businesses once again closed early, or were too fearful to open their doors at all, and trains and buses stopped from 6pm.

Police Scotland was expected to send around 90 officers, including five inspectors, under a mutual aid agreement with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Officers have also been sent from the North West and North East of England, according to a police source, but forces declined to say for operational reasons whether they were participating.

Besides the isolated demonstrations, communities were left to pick through the rubble in areas that have been shaken to the core by the rioting. 

On Thursday, a senior police officer said there was no evidence loyalist paramilitaries were coordinating the unrest - instead pointing to social media.

Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson told the BBC: 'At this stage we have no evidence to say that the violence is being coordinated by loyalist paramilitaries.

'What we have seen is significant coordination from online social media activity, some from people within Northern Ireland - and some from outside of Northern Ireland, outside the island of Ireland - generating that activity.

'That momentum, that drive, that toxicity is what's bringing people out onto the streets. It needs to stop.'

The condition of Stephen Ogilvie, who lost his left eye and suffered deep cuts to his head, face, and back in the attack, was said on Thursday to be 'improving'.

It is understood he could be awoken from his coma within the next 48 hours.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said he met with the parents of Mr Ogilvie on Thursday afternoon, who have been left 'broken' after the incident.

'They have asked me to share that whilst their son remains in a coma, his condition is improving,' he said.

'They hope, pray and trust that he will be released from that coma within the next 24 or 48 hours, at which point assessments will be made about his sight and other impacts from the atrocity that happened on Monday evening.'

Meanwhile, more information emerged about Alodid on Thursday. 

A friend speaking to The Telegraph revealed Alodid was a policeman in Khartoum before he travelled to the UK through the asylum 'back door'.

He was born and spent his early years in Saudi Arabia, but headed back to Sudan for his education.

A man called Azheri Omer said he had been friends with Alodid in Sudan, and that they began the journey to Europe together.

Mr Omer said Alodid had joined the police force in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, but quit after a few months.

The pair decided to head to Europe by crossing Libya after civil war broke out in Sudan in April 2023.

Mr Omer said Alodid had saved up enough money to take him across the Mediterranean Sea and into Europe, but that his own funds had run out in Libya.

Two of Alodid's brothers later followed in his footsteps, sources familiar with the family told the paper.

One was said to now be living in Liverpool, while the other was thought to be living in Belfast with Alodid.

The suspect's family is understood to be refusing to speak about his arrest and charge, even to friends.

If Alodid indeed moved to escape the civil war, then he is among an estimated 14 million Sudanese displaced from their homes and four million to have left the country in the face of the conflict.

It comes after a second night of violence on Wednesday in which the PSNI used water cannons – banned in England, Wales and Scotland – to disperse around 300 masked protesters in Glengormley, eight miles north of Belfast.

It is believed the group was targeting a hotel said to be housing migrants. A 'hit list' of properties thought to contain migrants had been in circulation for months and was reportedly known to the PSNI.

The force also fired 20 plastic bullets as mobs targeted homes and officers, throwing rocks, petrol bombs and other missiles in Belfast, Glengormley and 24 miles south-west in Portadown.

Police reported 16 arrests, while 12 officers were injured.

On Tuesday night, there appeared to have been a deliberate campaign against non-white residents, with several families left homeless after their houses were set alight. It is not yet clear whether people were targeted in the same way last night.

An African family who have lived in Belfast for 20 years was among those targeted on Tuesday, and a Ukrainian teenager was forced to flee after her family's front door caught fire.

A two-month-old baby had to be rescued from the rioters, and footage showed one family being ushered past flames into an armoured police vehicle.

A Middle Eastern supermarket was specifically targeted in Belfast, while a Turkish barbershop was trashed in County Antrim, around 20 miles outside the city.

In the east of the city, Lendrick Road was swallowed up by flames. Jamie Corry, who has lived there for 13 years, watched in horror as his house was 'completely' destroyed by thugs, alongside 'sentimental' items belonging to his late father.

In a sickening scene, an NHS nurse from an ethnic minority was chased by four masked men while on her way to work at Ulster Hospital, East Belfast, in a reported 'racist attack'. 

Meanwhile, more information emerged about Alodid on Thursday. 

A friend speaking to The Telegraph revealed Alodid was a policeman in Khartoum before he travelled to the UK through the asylum 'back door'.

He was born and spent his early years in Saudi Arabia, but headed back to Sudan for his education.

A man called Azheri Omer said he had been friends with Alodid in Sudan, and that they began the journey to Europe together.

Mr Omer said Alodid had joined the police force in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, but quit after a few months.

The pair decided to head to Europe by crossing Libya after civil war broke out in Sudan in April 2023.

Mr Omer said Alodid had saved up enough money to take him across the Mediterranean Sea and into Europe, but that his own funds had run out in Libya.

Two of Alodid's brothers later followed in his footsteps, sources familiar with the family told the paper.

One was said to now be living in Liverpool, while the other was thought to be living in Belfast with Alodid.

The suspect's family is understood to be refusing to speak about his arrest and charge, even to friends.

If Alodid indeed moved to escape the civil war, then he is among an estimated 14 million Sudanese displaced from their homes and four million to have left the country in the face of the conflict.