‘Province-wide protests’ fail to attract numbers as speaker hits out at Sunday World stories
Around 100 people – including the usual suspects – gathered in the grounds of Stormont yesterday to hear speakers lambaste the Labour government in London over its policies on asylum seekers and refugees – and also to hear them lash out at the Sunday World.
Police have warned that far-right protests are spreading lies about immigrants and that the self-styled vigilantes patrolling some largely loyalist areas should stop.
But protest organiser Steven Baker told the gathering: “This is serious about what’s happening as regards the people who are coming here.
Steven Barker speaks to the crowd
“I can guarantee you they all have military training. I’m telling you now there is an army of undocumented and unvetted males living in our hotels.”
And to loud applause, he added: “Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland has been flooded with dangerous fighting-age males. Military-trained. This is racial. This is abuse against the white race, folks.”
And he also hit out at the Sunday World and this reporter.
He said: “Your man Hugh Jordan was running about the Creggagh estate last week looking for me. It’s the lengths these people go to to get a story.
“And he also mentioned that there has been a split in east Belfast. There was no split, there was just no communication.”
However, even fewer of Baker’s supporters turned up at Marcus Square in Newry, where a quickly organised ‘anti-fascist’ counter-demo attracted larger numbers than the official protesters.
Loyalist Mark Sinclair chats to Neil Pinkerton
And a large and vocal pro-Palestine demonstration through the streets of Belfast city centre yesterday turned out to be in stark contrast to what happened the day before in Luxembourg.
Hundreds of Northern Ireland soccer fans had travelled to the tiny central European country to watch their team play a World Cup qualifier.
But some members of the Green and White Army were videoed chanting “You can shove your Palestine up your hole!” as locals paraded through the streets in support of the beleaguered nation.
That small number of fans were condemned on social media after the video went viral.
Some of the people that attended the protest in the grounds of Stormont castle yesterday
Yesterday morning, Stormont protest organiser Steven Baker used his Facebook page to appeal to anti-migrant supporters to turn out in numbers at the Massey Avenue gate.
He said: “In just over an hour’s time, we’re going to Stormont. We had originally arranged to meet at Carson’s statue, but there’s been a change of plan.
“Due to disabled people wanting to come, they feel they wouldn’t be able to make it up the hill. So it’s now at the Massey Avenue gates.”
He added: “The important thing about today is that it lets me know that there are enough concerned parents in Belfast – and as you know there’s another one in Newry at Marcus Square – so today, let’s turn up.”
However, he was lucky if there were 100 people there.
Protest organiser Steven Baker takes to the mic at Stormont yesterday to address the crowd of about 100
But east Belfast-based Baker, who runs his own gardening business, saved his greatest vitriol for inside the grounds of Stormont, where he told supporters: “It doesn’t matter if you are living in north, south, east or west Belfast.
“These people are being planted all over folks. Why? I’ll leave it to your imagination.
“As most of you know I was arrested last Friday morning at 2.40am. They were doing me for criminal damage. And to be honest folks, I was quite embarrassed that they called it ‘criminal damage’.
“All I was doing, was I wanted to make people aware that I was coming here and was going to Petition the King and the Privy Council. I embarked on this two and a half months ago.”
And pointing to Parliament Buildings behind him, Baker said: “It was also to make people aware of the corruption which goes on in here. Where MLAs get dressed up and go into Stormont to make false representations for us, the people.”
Women carrying cards
And Baker loudest applause came when he asked the crowd: “Does it not look like our own governments are now trying to genocide us?”
In a ludicrous claim, Baker said: “Our people are being murdered. Our children are being raped. This is racial. It’s an abuse against the white race, folks.”
He added: “If these people want to come here, they better abide by our laws.”
Fox killer Neil ‘Pinky’ Pinkerton and convicted UVF bank robber Mark Sinclair were among the crowd at Stormont. But their far-right pal Glen ‘Killer’ Kane, aka ‘Mr. X’ was unable to make it as a result of court restrictions on his movements.
Sinclair objected to the Sunday World’s presence at the event.
He said: “I’m a citizen journalist and I’m reporting this here today.”
Sinclair told us we should leave the Stormont Estate immediately.
And one of his supporters also told us: “I’ll personally escort you out, if necessary.”
We ignored the request.
Fox killer Neil Pinkerton videos proceedings on his phone at yesterday’s Stormont rally
News in 90 seconds – 7th September 2025