Man who fought off Belfast knifeman with hurling stick named

A man who used a hurling stick to fight off a knifeman in north Belfast has been named as Maitiu Mag Tighearnan.

Tighearnan, from Northern Ireland, was filmed hitting the assailant five times on the head with the wooden hurley as other people kicked and punched him on Kinnaird Avenue on Monday night.

Police arrested a man on suspicion of attempted murder and declared a critical incident. The suspect was taken into custody after a victim suffered “significant injuries” to his face, neck and back.

In a social media post, Tighearnan said he “just landed there by chance” and managed to “protect a young lad”. He is understood to have been visiting his partner, who lives on the street where the attack took place.

Asked on social media why he had intervened and whether he had waited for the police, he said: “Mate, I just landed there by chance. Cops were called before I even got out to protect a young lad. As if waiting on cops was my first thought.”

Maitiu Mag Tighearnan and another member of the public confronting the apparent attacker. Photograph: Social media

The suspect is believed to be Sudanese, and to have leave to remain in Northern Ireland after coming from Dublin, police said.

Keir Starmer praised “members of the public who intervened”, while Brian Kingston, a Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) politician, also praised residents.

Kingston said: “I do want to commend other local residents who intervened and did what they could at risk to themselves to bring this attack to an end – people need to know and they have a right to know what occurred and how could such a barbaric attack have occurred.”

Protests are being planned in Northern Ireland after the attack, a DUP MP told the Commons. Jim Shannon, MP for Strangford, said: “Tensions are inflamed and at this moment I am aware of planned protests throughout my constituency, Strangford.”

Northern Ireland’s justice minister, Naomi Long, said there were “bad faith actors who want to stir trouble.” .

Speaking at a press conference at Stormont on Tuesday, she said: “The only people who will be harmed if there is unrest on our streets are innocent people. The only thing that will be achieved is further victims.

“And so I’m asking for people to be calm, to be rational at a time when it is easy to be irrational, because you’re hurt, you’re upset, and you’re angry and because there are bad faith actors who want to stir trouble. It is not in the interests of anyone in Northern Ireland for us to see our community torn apart in these instances.”