North of Ireland Justice Minister Naomi Long’s house targeted by 40 strong mob

Alliance Party Justice Minister Naomi Long responded to the presence of a large group of protestors outside her house last night by describing the incident as “bullying and intimidation.”

No specific group has claimed responsibility for the action taken in East Belfast, though footage of it can be found on the TikTok account @jesuischarlie333. One video shows Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers guarding the property, and a surveillance-gathering armoured car patrolling the street. Another reel, filled with pointless, seizure-inducing jump-cuts, shows images of hooded men near the Member of the Legislative Assembly’s (MLA) house.

The protest seemingly related to objections to sex offenders being placed in residential areas of East Belfast. Similar incidents have hit the headlines recently, with a crowd targeting BBC presenter Stephen Nolan when he turned up alongside a camera crew to record another such protest, again in the east of the city. Far right influencer Steven Baker recently launched a diatribe against Long in relation to taking “unsavoury, not welcome people” and “shoving them in our communities”.  Baker elaborated that these included “white paedophiles” but also migrants who we ‘learn’ are “dangerous fighting age males” and “possible Jihadis”. Addressing the Alliance MLA directly, he said:

Naomi Long, you’re getting called out. Your office is in East Belfast. You continue on in your ways. The people of East Belfast are going to stand up to you.

Far-right ghouls get within touching distance of the truth, then lose the plot

Like many rants from that end of the political spectrum, it correctly identifies certain kernels of truth relating to social problems, such as the unfair distribution of offenders into areas of lower socio-economic status, rather than the posh suburbs of the Malone Road or Cultra.

Similarly, the growth of shitty House in Multiple Occupation (HMO) properties alluded to during the mob scenes. In such cases, spacious, good quality homes are often crunched down into multiple housing units to pack in as many tenants as possible. The tenants get substandard cramped housing, and the area tends to become a place of transient residents, rather than a community. Everyone loses – except the landlords raking in money from the growth in tenant numbers.

These accurate observations are sadly undermined by wildly inaccurate assignment of blame, as “lefty protestors” and unions are held responsible in incoherent, conspiracy-laden bile-fests.

Long described the protest at her house as “threatening and wholly unacceptable”. Commenting on X, she said:

Over the last 25 years I’ve been in front-line politics, I’ve engaged with people from all backgrounds and perspectives. I’ve been open to debating and discussing issues, whether we agreed or not, including on here. Turning up as a mob, some in masks, at my home just isn’t on.

That line was crossed last night. It isn’t engagement and it isn’t legitimate protest to turn up at my home, disrupt my neighbours, my family and place pressure on police.

Criticism of the demonstration came in from across the political spectrum, with Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leader Gavin Robinson saying:

The private homes of elected politicians should be firmly off limits. Whatever the reason for political protest, what happened last night at Naomi Long’s home should be roundly condemned.

Social Democratic and Labour Party leader Matthew O’Toole described it as:

…anti-democratic intimidation [which] must be called out and opposed vociferously.

Even professional shit-stirrer Jamie Bryson found time to weigh in against the protest, saying “it’s disgraceful to target anyone in their home.” The high horse he positioned himself on stood a few tweets above a post from the previous day in which he attempted to implicate Long in portraying the Manchester synagogue attacker as a “victim”.

Spectre of the guillotine keeps French politicians honest

Notable other recent occurrences of targeting a politician’s home include anti-genocide activists who camped out beside the residence of arch Zionist US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. They covered the road outside with fake blood and subjected the genocidaire to waves of noise, due to his ironclad support for so-called Israel. Though given the size of Blinken’s $5 million mansion, were he to retreat to the other side of the property, he would likely have found himself not only out of earshot, but in a different postal code entirely.

A less noble example of harassing a politician at their domicile would be the media’s incessant haranguing of Jeremy Corbyn at his London property during his time as Labour leader (and beyond).

While the justification for doorstepping Long may have been thin, cases like Blinken do raise the question of the extent to which lawmakers ought to entirely escape the consequences of their sometimes murderous decisions. A quote attributed to Thomas Jefferson goes:

When government fears the people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.

The difference in social welfare provision between France and Ireland is sometimes attributed to the former populace’s willingness to burn the place to the ground at what may be the merest whiff of a reactionary turn from their ruling class.

In a time of unparalleled attack on protest rights, it may be wiser to temper our condemnation of less meritorious acts of reproach towards our elected representatives. Cynical figures in power will always attempt to use such instances as a means to erode our liberties further, but the benefits such rights confer to us will always outweigh the disadvantages from their occasional misuse.

Featured image via the Canary