In the U.K., a Violent Cycle: Hateful Attacks, Right-Wing Agitation and Riots

© Paul Faith/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

© Paul Faith/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
It was extreme even for a figure like Nigel Farage. Hours after the police footage of officers handcuffing Henry Nowak on the fatal night of December 3 in Southampton became public and spread like wildfire on social media, the Reform UK leader called on citizens to respond with “pure, cold rage.” The young Nowak had been fatally stabbed by a man of Sikh faith and Asian descent, who later falsely accused him of a racist attack. “I can’t breathe,” the victim shouted up to nine times, to the officers’ disbelief as they moved against him. His cry of agony echoed the words George Floyd uttered on the streets of Minneapolis, which sparked the Black Lives Matter movement.

© Christopher Furlong (Getty Images)

Reform UK leader has been unusually quiet in recent weeks – at great cost to the party during a crucial byelection
Fake images of Nigel Farage have been ubiquitous online lately – but the real politician has proved far more elusive since it was revealed seven weeks ago that he took a £5m personal gift from a crypto billionaire.
And while an AI-generated depiction of the Reform UK leader was falsely shown getting violent on BBC’s Question Time, Farage has been largely avoiding the TV studios where he might face questions over the cash.
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© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

© Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

Political and religious leaders in Northern Ireland saw early Wednesday morning — with the embers of a long night of violence in Belfast and other parts of the region still smoldering — that their calls for calm had fallen on deaf ears. Cars, buses, phone booths, and trash cans set ablaze. Homes where immigrants — or simply people from ethnic minorities — were believed to live, completely engulfed in flames after violent groups targeted them as places that needed to be “liberated.”

© Peter Morrison (AP Photo/Peter Morrison)

This blog is now closed. Read our main report here: Police use water cannon against rioters in Northern Ireland
Hadi Alodid refused legal representation and made no reply to charges which were put put to him through an Arabic interpreter as he appeared in court charged with attempted murder following the Belfast knife attack, the Press Association reports.
The 30-year-old, with an address at Duncairn Avenue in Belfast, appeared before the city’s magistrates’ court on Wednesday morning.
He is charged with the attempted murder of Stephen Ogilvie on Monday, with threatening to kill an NHS radiographer on the same day and with the possession of a knife.
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© Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images
TUC, GMB and Unison leaders reject invitation to affiliate to Reform amid rising support for party among their members
Major trade unions and the TUC have rebuffed Nigel Farage’s call for unions to affiliate to Reform UK, saying the party is “cosplaying” as workers’ champions and has opposed new employment rights.
Farage issued a call on Tuesday for unions to attend Reform’s conference and to affiliate to the party, and he suggested one union may be on the brink of doing so.
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© Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Crowds gather at sites across Belfast after Sudanese man charged with attempted murder
Badenoch said, after the murder of Stephen Lawrence, it was right that people wanted to ensure this did not happen again.
It led to the Macpherson report, she said.
[It] wanted to put right what went wrong with policing in the 1990s.
However, in attempting to do so, it also enshrined a principle which I believe is wrong that a racist incident is racist if it is perceived as racist by the victim or any other person.
Equality law, properly designed, should protect us all in the same way. It should be a shield, not a sword.
It should protect people from discrimination. It should protect people from being treated differently because of their race, sex, religion, sexuality, disability or age.
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© Photograph: PA

© Photograph: PA

© Photograph: PA

© Temilade Adelaja/Reuters

© Ben Stansall/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
In charge for 14 years at the Home Office and 10 at Hampshire police, the Tories co-authored the Henry Nowak tragedy, says Clive Pinder. But Kemi Badenoch has shown she is determined to do something about it.
The post The Tories Co-Authored The Henry Nowak Tragedy. Can Kemi Badenoch Tear up the Script? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Call for ‘clear and truthful account’ comes amid questions about the Reform leader’s property spending
The Labour party has written to Nigel Farage urging him to stop “evading reasonable scrutiny” over the £5m personal gift he received from the Thailand-based crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
The letter coincides with approval of a planning application that reveals the Reform leader’s plans to transform a dilapidated Kent property into a luxury beachfront residence.
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© Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

© Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian