Eleven officers and police dog injured as violence erupts in Southampton over Henry Nowak murder
Two people have been arrested in connection with the flash protest where missiles and projectiles were thrown at police dressed in riot gear
11 police officers and a police dog were injured in violent clashes in Southampton last night in response to the handling of the murder of university student Henry Novak.
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The 18-year-old was stabbed to death in December with a ceremonial knife by Vickrum Digwa, 23. He was then handcuffed by police and bled to death.
Digwa, who was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years for stabbing Mr Nowak with a 21cm blade, told police at the scene he had been the victim of a racist attack.
In body-worn camera footage from the incident, Mr Nowak can be heard repeatedly saying: “I’ve been stabbed”, to which an officer replies: “Don’t think you have, mate.”
Hundreds gathered outside Southampton Central Police Station on Tuesday where Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – and actor and campaigner Laurence Fox were among those who spoke to the crowd.
So far, two people have been arrested in connection with the flash protest where missiles and projectiles were thrown at police dressed in riot gear. An officer also narrowly avoided being hit by an e-scooter which had been thrown from a height, it was also reported.
Bricks, bottles, gravel, chairs, flares, cans and parts of broken fences were also repeatedly launched.
The case has been seized on by politicians including Nigel Farage and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Ministers have appealed for calm in wake of the unrest.
Sir Keir Starmer has said that Hampshire police have “serious questions” to answer including “how accusations of racism informed the decision-making in this case”.
Nigel Farage said Mr Nowak had been “killed by DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion]”.
Sir James Cleverly, the shadow communities secretary, said police “seemed more concerned with the accusation of racism than the pleas of a dying man”.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said “pernicious identity politics” had seen the country “going backwards”.
Policing minister Sarah Jones said she understood the anger the case had caused, but urged people not to “over-react”, saying Mr Nowak’s family did not want his murder to stir up hostility or division.
“We are urging that people take the anger that they feel, which I understand, but let’s allow justice to do its course, and let’s not over-react, which indeed is what the family are asking us to do as well,” she told Times Radio.
Ms Jones defended the police’s Race Action Plan, although ministers have acknowledged that wording in a police commitment document alongside it is “clumsy”.
She said “everyone must be equal under the law and we must ensure that is the case” but “we can’t shy away from what are historic and legitimate concerns about racism within police forces”.
Southampton community leaders have accused the far right of bussing people into the city to “fuel” violence to further their own agenda following the murder of Henry Nowak.
John Savage, a Labour representative for the Portswood ward of Southampton City Council where the disorder took place, described the violence as “absolutely outrageous”.
Mr Savage said: “We really need to wait for the outcome of the IOPC (Independent Office for Police Conduct) investigation, we can’t make any judgement based on seeing a couple of seconds of a video, however distressing it is.
“Most people are really upset by it, they really care about what happened in the last minutes of a poor 18-year-old student’s life, but it doesn’t warrant the violent, disrupting, damaging behaviour we saw last night, we need to wait to find out what happened.”
Digwa had previously been investigated by police in 2023 on suspicion of stealing ceremonial blades from a Sikh temple in Southampton but no further action was taken.
The police watchdog is expected to report on the case within the next three months.
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said investigators are examining a large amount of body-worn video as well as material presented during Digwa’s trial.
Hampshire Police confirmed one of the officers involved in the case has resigned, while the other three are still serving.
All of them are being treated as witnesses.