Last night a violent protest erupted in Southampton, following the release of new footage of the horrifying murder of Henry Nowak.
Far-right actors – including Stephen Lennon, Nick Tenconi and Paul Golding – flocked to the event, which culminated in violent unrest and police pelted with bins, plant pots, bricks and other projectiles. 11 police officers and a police dog were injured, with two arrests and more expected in coming days.
Nowak, an 18-year-old student from Essex, was killed last December while walking to his student accommodation in Southampton after a night out. Police body cam footage released on Monday showed Nowak cuffed by police while repeatedly stating he had been stabbed and could not breathe. Nowak died at the scene.
His murderer, Vickrum Digwa, was sentenced to a minimum of 20 years in prison this week. The footage showed Digwa at the scene, lying repeatedly by claiming that Nowak had not been stabbed. Digwa’s brother had rung the police after the initial altercation, claiming that Digwa had been racially attacked by Nowak, though this claim is unconfirmed.
Nowak’s father stated that “this is not a case about Sikhism, this is not a case about racism, this is about murder”, and that he and his family did not want Henry’s death “to be used to create further division, hatred or tension”.
As usual, the far right had other plans.
In the early evening, far-right figures addressed a large crowd outside Southampton Police station. The event had been organised predominantly by the Southampton Patriots, but quickly spread by Turning Point UK and Patriots of Britain. The crowd was a mix of notorious far-right figures, grassroots anti-migrant groups from surrounding areas and locals. Throughout the evening, they chanted “I can’t breathe”, echoing Nowak’s words as the police cuffed him.
Speeches were delivered by former actor Laurence Fox and anti-migrant pastor Chris Wickland, with Richard Inman also appearing on the mic on several occasions. UKIP leader Nick Tenconi gave a speech in which he claimed that Digwa had been “armed with intent, and saw a chance to kill a white man”, in the knowledge that he would “get away with it”. Tenconi blamed “the left”, Marxism and Communism, as well as broader efforts around diversity, for Nowak’s death.
Among the crowd were Britain First leader Paul Golding, convicted attempted kidnapper Daniel Thomas (AKA Danny Tommo), Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull and Ben Cullen, who HOPE not hate recently exposed as a member of Raise the Colours with a criminal history. There were representatives from patriot groups in Southampton, Horley, Bristol and the South East, as well as several well-known “auditors”.
As violence escalated into the evening, Luke Jahn, the Portsmouth organiser of the fascist National Rebirth Party, was photographed fighting with riot police alongside a man wearing a Restore Britain t-shirt.
Following the speeches, many of the best-known far-right actors left the event, stopping for photos as they went. An angry crowd walked to Belmont street, where they were met with a police line. While some protesters peacefully took the knee, tensions escalated, before culminating in a mob chasing riot police and pelting them with bins.
One man was hit in the head with a brick thrown by a fellow protester, as others threw office chairs, deck chairs, logs, bikes, scooters, glass and plastic bottles and food waste bins. At one point, a group set a large bin alight and sent it flying at the police line.
Last night followed a recognisable pattern. Justifiably angry locals gathered to mourn the death of a community member and call for change within the police. However, far-right actors, many of whom live outside the area, travelled to exploit the anger and ideologically dominate the event. A section of protesters engaged in violence and disorder, damaging property at the expense of the local community.
Soon after the release of the body cam footage, two dominant narratives emerged: the supposed racial bias within the police, and a broader failure of multi-cultural Britain. However, the far right is united in framing the case as an example of “anti-white” discrimination.
Nigel Farage claimed that the murder was proof of a “two tier culture” where “the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities”. He attacked a “DEI agenda” and claimed that we should respond to the attack with “pure, cold rage”, insisting that we must eradicate “anti-white prejudice” and that “white lives matter just as much as black lives”.
Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) echoed this rhetoric, attacking a police system that is supposedly biased against white people due to DEI schemes. During his speech, Lennon claimed that “this is about race”, and alleged that if Nowak had not been white, he would not have been cuffed”.
Ethnonationalists – who view Britishness as rooted in race, rather than culture – used the murder to call for “remigration”, a euphemism for state-sanctioned ethnic cleansing. While they too criticised the police, they also targeted Sikh communities, and non-white people more generally, in broader racial terms.
Last night’s events follow a familiar trend, whereby the far right hijacks a community made vulnerable by a tragic event. There was no mention of knife crime, the issue on which the Nowak family has focused following Henry’s death; instead speakers focussed on race and ‘two-tier policing’. The desire of Nowak’s family for policy change over violent division was roundly ignored.
This mobilisation recalls the activity we see most years. The violence is similar to the activity in Knowsley in 2023 and Epping in 2025 – a localised outburst after a trigger event. Both prompted a long string of anti-migrant protests across the country. While last night’s events certainly do not reflect the levels of hostility seen in the countrywide riots in 2024 following the Southport killings, it takes place within a broader trend of protest.
However, the Southampton case is unusual in its overt racialisation. While the far right has always engaged in racist rhetoric, discussions often surround so-called cultural differences and illegal immigration, rather than open conversations about white identity.
Nowak’s case, on the other hand, has been framed by the far right as the state attacking a white man on the basis of race. During the protest, part of the crowd broke out into a chant of “white man, fight back”, as they pelted police. The language used in Farage’s address would have been shocking to hear from a mainstream political party two years ago, but this shift in the Overton Window is a worrying sign of an increasingly racialised turn in the politics of the British right.
Known far-right attendees:
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