Riots in Belfast and Southampton expose UK tensions over race and policing

As residents of Glengormley on the northern edge of Belfast cleared debris and braced for more violence, a court 500 miles away in Southampton began handling its own cases of disorder.

The unrest in Belfast followed the release of footage showing a Black man stabbing a white victim in the face and neck while shouting in Arabic. The suspect was later identified as a refugee from Sudan.

In Southampton, prosecutors dealt with the aftermath of protests that followed the release of police bodycam footage from the death of Henry Nowak. Nowak, an 18-year-old white student, had been wrongly arrested and handcuffed on false racism claims while dying from stab wounds inflicted by Vickrum Digwa. Digwa, a 23-year-old British Sikh, had made the false allegations and was later jailed for murder.

Prosecutor Siobhan Linsley told the court that about 1,000 people gathered outside Southampton’s central police station on 2 June. A quarter of them appeared to be drinking, and many wore masks. One speaker shouted, “Do you want the house, the Digwa house?” Hundreds then moved toward an incorrect address linked to the Digwa family in the St Denys area.

Protesters threw bricks, chairs and bins at officers. A group of police was surrounded by a crowd hurling objects, and a police car was attacked. The disorder lasted about two and a half hours. The demonstrators included members of far-right groups such as the Southampton Patriots, White Vanguard and the Portsmouth branch of the National Rebirth Party.

Taylor Grundy, 22, pushed a burning commercial bin at officers and threw a plank of wood. He was sentenced to two and a half years. Dillon Crawford, 29, a father of two with another child due, received three years for throwing a bin and a metal chair. Crawford has 19 prior convictions for 33 offences, including battery, robbery and burglary.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said the police response to Nowak’s death showed that “the rights and privileges of white people matter less than ethnic minorities.” He described the Belfast violence, in which homes were burned and families fled masked men shouting “foreigners out,” as driven by fear and a demand for safer streets.

An editorial in the Times argued that government inaction on illegal immigration had fuelled the Belfast unrest. Critics said Farage’s comments amounted to stoking division.

Migration levels in Northern Ireland remain low. The 2021 census showed almost 97% of residents described themselves as white. Just 2,248 asylum seekers were receiving government support in a population of 1.93 million as of 31 March 2024. About 200 people took part in the recent unrest.

Professor Tim Newburn, who studied the 2011 England riots, said such outbreaks require both widespread anger and weak police control. Both Belfast and Southampton forces were understaffed, with 12 officers injured in Northern Ireland and 11 plus a police dog hurt in Southampton.

Professor John Drury of the University of Sussex described the riots as collective racist attacks rooted in narratives of white victimhood. He said years of anti-immigrant rhetoric, amplified online and by some politicians and media, had emboldened participants.

The Belfast disorder ended after two nights. In Southampton, Judge Mousley KC told those convicted that the violence was a hate crime born of hatred toward police and, in some cases, racist views. He said the impact on the community had been profound.