'Irish Lives Matter' Being Called Hate Speech Ignites American Firestorm

Conservatives in the United States are outraged over police in Northern Ireland treating a series of anti-immigration signage in west Belfast as a "hate incident," including a graffiti message that read, "Irish Lives Matter."

The incidents in Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom, follow less than a week after anti-immigration riots broke out in Dublin, Ireland. The violent protests, which Irish police blamed on "far-right" ideology, were sparked after an Algerian man was identified as the suspect behind the stabbing of five individuals, including three children, outside of an "all-Irish", Gaelic-speaking school earlier that same day.

Signage in Belfast included a statement hung near Tildarg Avenue that said the community "will no longer accept the re-housing of illegal immigrants," according to a report by the BBC. The poster also reportedly used an offensive term to refer to "other communities" as well, read the report.

Roughly a day later, a graffiti message that read "Irish Lives Matter" was also spray painted on the side of the Kennedy Centre in Belfast. The statement appears to be an adaptation of the phrase "All lives matter," which gained popularity after the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement in the U.S. in 2020.

Andrew Matson, a spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), said that law enforcement was "treating the matter as a hate incident," according to a report from the British broadcast network ITV. Politicians in Northern Ireland also spoke up on the matter, including People Before Profit lawmaker Gerry Caroll, who said in a post to X, formerly Twitter, that there was "no place in our society for this kind of racist poison".

Conservatives in the U.S. bashed the PSNI's response to the signage over social media Wednesday, including Chaya Raichik, creator of the far-right account Libs of TikTok.

"Ireland is turning on its own citizens," Raichik wrote to X. "'Irish Lives Matter' is now a hate crime."

"If saying 'Irish lives matter' in Ireland is a hate crime that's the definition of a conquered nation," conservative commentator Auron Macintyre wrote to X.

Collin Rugg, co-owner of the conservative commentary site Trending Politics, also raged in a post that the PSNI handling of the incident meant that, "Ireland has officially gone mad."

"The graffiti comes after Irish citizens are rising up against their government and demanding action on the flow of migrants," Rugg wrote, adding, "Wokeness eats away the brain."

Newsweek has reached out to the PSNI for comment via email.

Conservatives in the U.S. have used the immigration debate in Ireland as a platform to raise concerns about the U.S.-Mexico border in recent weeks, including Lara Trump, daughter-in-law of former President Donald Trump, who said in an interview with NewNation on Monday that the recent incidents in Ireland are "all the more reason that people are now starting to wake up."

"I mean, borders matter," she added. "And you know, it's funny because at one time, the borders of this country did matter to those in charge. Borders of a country like Ireland matter as well. And we have our own unique system and way of doing things; We need to know who's coming into our country."