Around a thousand protesters gathered outside Southampton Central Police Station on Tuesday, 2 June, to express outrage over two-tier policing following the release of body-camera footage showing 18-year-old Henry Nowak being handcuffed after he had been fatally stabbed by 23-year-old Sikh man Vickrum Digwa.
The demonstration drew both local residents and right-wing activists, including Tommy Robinson, who delivered a speech during the rally. He accused Hampshire Police of treating white British people as ‘second-rate citizens’, pointing to the fact that officers arriving at the scene on 3 December 2025 appeared to believe the murderer’s claims of having been racially abused rather than responding to the visibly critical condition of Nowak, who died at the scene while handcuffed.
As anticipated, the protest descended into clashes with police. According to footage circulating on social media, bottles, bricks, cans, flares, and other projectiles were thrown at officers in riot gear. In some areas, police were reportedly forced to retreat, while other videos show officers repeatedly advancing into demonstrators with Perspex shields and striking them with the edges of the shields.
One viral video also appears to show a man being brutally beaten while pinned to the ground by several police officers. According to the footage, the man was kicked in the head multiple times by one officer while others restrained him, further fuelling outrage over police conduct.
According to media reports, two arrests were made during the unrest.
The Labour government, which had remained largely silent on the case until the previous day, after Prime Minister Keir Starmer was reportedly forced to issue a statement following the release of the body-camera footage, condemned the violence that erupted during the protest.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood described the scenes as ‘completely unacceptable’, accusing right-wing groups of ‘hijacking’ the tragedy of Henry Nowak to ‘stir up violence and disorder’. ‘Those responsible can expect to face the full force of the law,’ she declared, before thanking police officers ‘who have tonight shown great bravery and calm in the face of disgraceful violence directed at them’.
The reaction further fuelled tensions, with many comparing Mahmood’s response to statements she issued during the riots in the United States following George Floyd’s death. At the time, the home secretary wrote: ‘Many constituents have been in touch with me regarding protests across the United States after the murder of George Floyd. I share their anger at this unspeakable outrage,’ concluding her statement with the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter.
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