How the far right is exploiting the murder of Henry Nowak – The Latest
episodePreviously titled “How the murder of Henry Nowak is being exploited by the far right – The Latest” — renamed by the publisher on Aug 2, 2026
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What events led to the riots in Southampton after Henry Nowak's murder?
This is The Guardian.
Some people are just not leaving the house. People are telling their members of their family who wear a turban not to leave the house.
End this divisive practice of two-tier policing. I'm really shocked. that he pretends to have respect for Henry's family.
Something has shifted in the past two years now where they are attacking the police. We know that there are disparities in the criminal justice system. The data is very clear that disparities are against people of colour.
From The Guardian's Today In Focus, this is The Latest with me, Lucy Hoth. There's been appalling riots in Southampton in the wake of the sentencing of the killer of Henry Novak, a young student who was murdered in Southampton in December of last year. Amna Modin, you're our community affairs correspondent. I mean, obviously, the circumstances of this are appalling. The violence, I think, was triggered by the sentencing of his killer on Monday and the subsequent release of footage of the policing around that murder. I mean, the footage is horrifying. We should start there before we come on to last night's riots.
It's an extremely difficult video to watch. It's completely harrowing. This story, first and foremost, is about the murder of an 18-year-old boy. And I'm not surprised that the video has sparked so much anger. There are parallels to other deaths in custody, both in the UK and abroad. And it's quite shocking to have a teenager say over and over again that he can't breathe and that not being met with a proper response.
What's happened to you, all right? I've been stabbed.
You've been stabbed? Whereabouts?
Don't think you have, mate. And the fact that he was handcuffed and bleeding to death has sent shockwaves across the country. I think the prime minister said he felt sickened watching it. Really strong language, I think, all across the political spectrum.
And Henry Novak's father, speaking after the sentencing of his son's killer, made a plea that his death not be used to stoke divisions.
We do not want his death to be used to create further division, hatred or tension. We want his story to make our streets safer for everyone. That is why we are calling on the government to treat knife crime as the national emergency that it is.
Nonetheless, Nigel Farage called for a response of pure cold rage, which was on full display last night in Southampton in a way that I think echoed what we saw in 2024 in Southport.
Yeah, so he tweeted that he had an address to the nation and I think many people tensed when they saw that. And to be honest, watching that video, it did send shivers down my spine. I speak to many minority ethnic communities and And they were bracing themselves for violence yesterday. And we did see that in Southampton. I think about a dozen police officers were attacked. A police dog was attacked. And it's just quite heartbreaking because we go back to Henry's father's statement. He specifically said this is about knife crime and he wants the streets to be safer. He doesn't want the death of his son to be used to instigate a race war. But there are political parties, political actors that do want that.
So I think we're in a really scary situation now. But the thing to know is that minority ethnic communities have been braced for this since 2024. Whenever there is a case that's similar to this, where a person of colour goes on to commit a horrific act of violence, many people feel like it would be used to scapegoat the entire community. It was really powerful to see so many Sikh leaders come out, do press conferences, immediately condemning the violence, unequivocally standing with Henry and his family. But that is now necessary in the UK to be able to continue walking safe and feel like you can be part of the country, which I think is quite a dark place for us to come.
And you've been speaking to people from the Sikh community who must be feeling extremely at risk and in danger. What kinds of things have you been hearing?
Yeah, some people are just not leaving the house.
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