Could neo-Nazi youth, or 'active clubs,' have played a role in Belfast riots?

Youths gather in front of a burning barricade on Duncairn Gardens on June 9 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Charles McQuillan/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Charles McQuillan/Getty Images Stay up to date with our Politics newsletter, sent weekly . The violence that drove scores of ethnic minorities from their homes earlier this month in Belfast, Northern Ireland, has drawn attention from those who study violent extremism in the U.S. The disorder followed the grisly stabbing of 44-year-old Stephen Ogilvie on June 8, caught on video and widely circulated on social media, by a 30-year old Sudanese man who was seeking asylum in the UK. The victim survived, but was seriously injured; the alleged perpetrator has been charged with attempted murder. The stabbing set off unruly protests, in which masked, anti-immigrant mobs set fire to vehicles and homes in predominantly ethnic minority neighborhoods. Now, there are questions about how participants organized so quickly, and whether a network of neo-Nazi youth groups, called "active clubs," played a role. "Effectively, they saw their model in action," said Michael Colborne, journalist and researcher for Bellingcat, an investigative journalism group based in the Netherlands. "They saw masked young men committing political violence and in a model that they … would actually further like to emulate themselves." Active clubs have been on the rise in recent years across Western Europe and the U.S.. …