Crime & Law

Man arrested over online threats against the councillor who is set to be Northern Ireland’s first black mayor

SDLP’s Lilian Seenoi-Barr has received racist abuse and death threats since her appointment was announced last week

SDLP councillor Lilian Seenoi Barr: 'I have had enormous support across the island'

Freya McClements
Mon May 6 2024 - 11:02

A man has been arrested by police investigating online threats against an SDLP councillor who is set to become Northern Ireland’s first black mayor.

Lilian Seenoi-Barr, who is originally from Kenya, is due to take up the role of mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council next month.

Ms Seenoi-Barr has received racist abuse and death threats since her appointment was announced last week.

The SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood, has condemned the abuse and what he described as “very serious death threats.”

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The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said a 30-year-old man attended Strand Road police station in Derry on Sunday and was arrested on suspicion of harassment, threats to kill and improper use of a public electronic communications network.

He was held in custody overnight and was released on bail on Monday morning pending further enquiries.

The PSNI said it was treating the alleged offences as a racially-motivated hate crime.

A local policing inspector said the PSNI wanted to “assure the public that we take reports of online threats and harassment seriously.

“I would encourage anyone who has been the victim of such behaviour to contact police on 101, or on 999 in an emergency,” he said.

Speaking on Sunday, Ms Seenoi-Barr said she had received racist abuse since coming to Northern Ireland as a refugee in 2010 and becoming a councillor, but the recent online abuse was “beyond” anything she had previously experienced.

The American far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones – who claimed the Sandy Hook shootings were a hoax – is among those who have targeted her with abusive postings on social media.

“My family is the one that is feeling it more than myself, I’m used to it,” Ms Seenoi-Barr told the BBC’s Sunday Politics programme.

“The death threats have been extremely hurtful to my family and to myself too, but I’m more focused on the positives.

“I have had enormous support across the island – community organisations, politicians who have reached out and stood in solidarity.

“That is the Derry I know, the Ireland I know, and that’s what I want to focus on,” she said.

Freya McClements

Freya McClements

Freya McClements is Northern Editor of The Irish Times

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