Nearly three decades after the end of the Troubles, Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland, is once again on fire.

On Monday, June 8, a Sudanese "asylum" seeker attacked a local man on the street with a kitchen knife, slashing him across the face and neck. Graphic video of the attack, which blinded the victim in one eye, rapidly spread online. The suspect, identified as Hadi Alodid, has been charged with attempted murder, possession of a knife in a public place, and making threats to kill.

In response, Belfast erupted.

Rioters took to the streets, hurling bricks and bottles at police, torching vehicles, and burning homes in some Belfast neighborhoods with large migrant populations. Police deployed water cannons. Families were forced to flee burning buildings. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service responded to 62 incidents in a single night. At least 27 people have been left homeless.

Lest there be any doubt: Arson, mob violence and the burning of innocent people's homes are all indefensible acts. Mobocracy is here, there and everywhere, the enemy of civilization. The masked men who burned out their neighbors for no reason disgraced themselves and their cause.

But that hopefully obvious point aside, here is the question the Western press refuses to ask: Why does this keep happening?

Because it does keep happening. Almost exactly a year ago,........

© Townhall