Clean-up crews have quickly cleared broken glass and repaired fences in Southampton's Portswood area after an anti-police demonstration turned violent. However, the psychological impact of the riots is expected to linger much longer.
Residents express fear and anger
Local residents described their fear and anger following the disturbances. Many expressed certainty that the family of Henry Nowak, who died after being handcuffed by police while bleeding, would be horrified by the violence. Members of the Sikh community also reported facing threats due to the actions of Nowak's killer, Vikrum Digwa, and police failures.
Sophie Martin, a resident near where far-right protesters clashed with riot police, was fixing tarpaulin over her family's two smashed cars. 'My kids' car seats are covered in glass,' she said. 'I saw signs saying 'protect the kids', 'safety is a privilege'. Well, I didn't feel safe last night.'
Labour MP Satvir Kaur, the first female Sikh to become a UK government minister, was checking on residents' safety. She regretted needing a security guard but said she had received death threats. 'I want to be able to talk to my friends and neighbours without having someone there trying to protect me from people that want to cause me harm,' Kaur said. 'Some want me dead.'
Kaur described Digwa's murder of Nowak with what the sentencing judge called a 'Sikh sword' as 'evil' and said it had shaken the community. 'They don't deserve to have their homes, cars and streets vandalised. It's really horrible how scared people were last night.'
She noted that most participants in the violence were not local. 'Which is really sad,' she said. 'And at a time when we really need to unite, we've got people that should be showing leadership instead sowing divisions and pitting one community against another. Henry's father himself said he didn't want his son's murder to be used to further grow divisions and hatred.'
Sikh community faces discrimination
At the Gurdwara Khalsa Darbar, police community support workers offered reassurance. A spokesperson for the gurdwara, who asked not to be named, said: 'Sikh people are facing a lot of discrimination in public places. The general public are making racist comments. We've got a person who works in a care home where someone refused to be cared by them because they wear a turban.'
She said the whole Sikh community had condemned Digwa's actions. 'This is the act of one individual. It does not determine the religion, the faith or community. At the point of his crime he was not representing Sikhism. All of a sudden everyone who is wearing a turban or has a beard is labelled as being Vikrum Digwa.'
Volunteers have been posted at the gurdwara to provide extra security. 'At prime times we've got extra people on a volunteer basis to be around,' the spokesperson said. 'The police really need to work harder on building their own trust because nobody has trust in anybody at the moment.'
Witnesses describe the disturbance
The disturbance followed a demonstration at Southampton central police station on Tuesday evening attended by far-right activists including Tommy Robinson. Some demonstrators then marched to Portswood, where Nowak was killed and where Digwa lived.
Eddie Thomas, 22, a university graduate working as a waiter, said he understood anger at police treatment of Nowak. 'What happened was so awful. The misconduct was insane.' He went to see the disturbance after seeing it on TikTok. 'I hear Tommy Robinson came down. That's not just local people getting upset. A lot of them were young, looking for trouble, covered up in black.'
Construction worker Anthony Burns, who also witnessed the trouble, expressed sympathy with the demonstration at the police station. 'Voices need to be heard. But I don't think the parents of Henry would have wanted to see bricks being thrown, bins being thrown. I don't think Henry would have wanted that.'
Council leader condemns weaponisation of tragedy
Council leader Sarah Bogle was checking on residents' welfare. She said: 'We really do not welcome that weaponisation of what is a huge tragedy.' Bogle said she had heard that Sikh people were being forced to change their routines to stay safe. 'It's just as old as the hills, blaming the other, blaming other people, but it's totally unacceptable.'
Retired art teacher Andrée stopped to express her sorrow: 'I taught people of all races for 40 years. This is a nice mixed community and most of the time everyone gets on well. This is so uncalled for, so sad.'
