‘Nothing Short of Sh*t’ – Student Living in the Holylands, pt. 2

By Ana Lazarut and Katie Ward

The Holylands have long been regarded with a strange, quasi-reverential mix of love, hatred and fear by students across the city. Known for raucous house parties, mold-infested flats and utter wildness, ‘The Lands’ are the residential area of Belfast with the biggest concentration of students. This, of course, comes with a unique set of problems – problems which appear to have grown exponentially in recent times.

This growth has been broadcasted widely online via an Instagram account named Holylands Spotted. With 105k followers, Spotted acts as a cornerstone of Belfast student culture, providing a constant stream of posts regarding student scandals, nights-out gone wrong, and general shenanigans in The Lands. This, however, has stopped being all Spotted is known for.

In recent times, the Holylands Spotted account has begun broadcasting a near constant stream of videos and statements sent in by student Holylands residents regarding instances of break-ins, stalkings, harassment, and property damage. This includes reports of stolen cars [1], women being followed home [2], and an anonymous Holylands Spotted source expressing that her ‘house of 5 girls [was] genuinely terrified’ after a ‘group of 15 boys […] spent 25 minutes slamming into the door,’ threatening ‘I’m going to ride that doll if it’s the last thing I do’ [3]. This spate of posts has begun to earn The Holylands a reputation as a place that is not just a little too crazy sometimes, but one that is genuinely dangerous for residents – especially women and girls.

We turned to residents of the Holylands to gauge a clearer understanding of the situation – are these isolated incidents, or are they the up trendlines of a very sinister pattern?

To find out, we conducted a survey, polling residents of the Holylands on their experiences living in The Lands and their relationship with the Spotted account. From the over 50 responses, 90.7% of surveyed residents stated that they followed the Spotted Instagram account. When asked why they followed the account, over 80% of those surveyed stated it was for both entertainment sources and keeping informed on safety.

Furthermore, 46.3% claimed they or someone they know had been directly affected by issues of stalking, harassment, break-ins, etc. When asked if they or anyone they know had ever felt unsafe in the Holylands, 96.3% said yes.

Some surveyed residents consented to expand anonymously on these experiences. Here are a few of their statements.

• Whenever I have to come back or go through Ormeau road at night, I can always count on a cat call or near body slam from men/boys.
• Cat calling especially if walking home in the dark even if just from your car and back.
• Property damage and harassment caused [my] neighbours to get camera for front room looking at door.
• A friend has had their car picked up and moved across the street.
• There was one time where I was walking home from work around 11pm-12pm and a drunk man came up to me and began trying to get me to fight him. I obviously said that I wasn’t going to and he started to call me a ‘fag’ and a ‘pussy’ because I wasn’t ‘being a real man’. He then followed me into the uni avenue spar and I managed to get him off my back and run back home.
• Harassment on streets from older men.
• Friends being followed home at night.
• My roommate’s car window was damaged while she was parked on our street.
• My female friend’s flat has been broken into by the men living below on numerous occasions. When walking in the Holylands after 5pm I always ensure I’m walking with a man (even walking with a group of girls doesn’t feel safe enough).
• People have tried to get into our building.
• Guys not leaving our house, being cat-called, people throwing and shouting stuff out of windows and cars and it’s always guys that be doing it.
• Got chased.
• My wingmirror has been broken 3 times in 5 months.
• Groups of men standing in silence watching you park your car at night and hovering about outside windows.
• Someone tried to break down our apartment door at 3am.
• I was approached by an older man en route to my friends house, I was walking alone and it was dark. I had to pretend I was on the phone to them when he was trying to talk to me and ran away.
• Eggs thrown.
• Car windows broken and catcalling.

Instances of cat calling, sexual harassment, and stalking presented most frequently among responses, in line with the frequency of what Holylands Spotted has been posting about. One anonymous surveyor commented that ‘It feels like, because the Holylands is a predominantly student area, the authorities get away with doing as little as possible […] there hasn’t been any increased police presence or new strategies to tackle the problem. The fact that students are relying on and resorting to a student-run social media page to stay informed about genuinely dangerous behaviour shows little faith in the authorities and little hope for any real, genuine change.

’This sentiment was echoed by Ellie Kyle, a Holylands resident who posted a TikTok detailing how she had come home to find her car ‘smashed to pieces’ [4].

‘The police are ridiculous,’ she told The Gown. ‘I’ve had two surveys from them to ask about how great their service has been when it’s been nothing short of shit.’

When asked for a response regarding the safety of Queen’s students living in the Holylands, Queen’s University Belfast stated; ‘The safety and wellbeing of our students is our upmost priority. Queen’s University works in partnership with local residents and community groups in the Holyland area, alongside Queen’s University Students’ Union, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Belfast City Council and other stakeholders to support student safety and wellbeing.

We have a comprehensive programme in place to support students living as part of the local community. This includes a dedicated neighbourhood engagement team and 24-hour security service across campus as well as number of safety initiatives including campus safety events, the provision of free burglary and panic alarms and access to the Hollie Guard app.

In response to incidents that occur off campus, this semester we also launched bus services to bring students to and from city centre locations.

The University encourages our students to report incidents both to the PSNI and to the University so that ‘appropriate action can be taken and support can be provided’.

We spoke directly with the Holylands Spotted account regarding both their stance and involvement in the matter. ‘I think an increase in reporting may make it seem like there has been an increase in overall crime, but who knows really?’ they told us. ‘Drugs, homelessness, anti-social behaviour – the list goes on, unfortunately, and it’s especially present in the Holylands, due to multiple reasons […] I definitely feel like there could be more done on an institutional level when it comes to the safeguarding of students in the Holylands and in Belfast as a whole.’

Clearly, nobody has all of the answers to the Holylands’ questions right now. But if the feelings of fear and abandonment among residents are anything to go off, it is time we started finding them.

References

[1] Holylands Spotted, Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/p/DTyKueNCLdG/?igsh=MXE1cDBhb2NwYm1tcw==

[2]Holylands Spotted, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/DSSwevxCCq5/?igsh=MXFkNmR6eDIwcDJ5Ng==

[3] Holylands Spotted, Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/DVdoH1mCIRT/?igsh=ZHMzaTJtczVwbjBx

[4] Ellie Kyle, Tiktok https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRHbVt2F/