Witnessing a Riot

On Saturday the 3rd of August 2024, the United Kingdom fell victim to the far right as they sought to wreak havoc in our communities. My city, Kingston upon Hull, devastatingly was one of those communities that had to pay the price for bigoted, ignorant and violent people who could really do with a bit of basic education.

The seeds of division were planted a long time ago here in the United Kingdom. Certain political parties and individuals have played a key role in that. But it all came to a head on Monday the 29th of July 2024 when in Southport, we saw terror like no other. A 17-year-old male walked into a Taylor Swift dance party and chose to violently attack the attendees.

Overwhelmingly, and heartbreakingly, most of those attendees were young children. Three of those children, Bebe King (aged six), Elsie Dot Stancombe (aged seven), and Alice Dasilva Aguiar (aged nine) were tragically murdered. Nine other children, and two adults, were also attacked.

The 17-year-old male, born in Wales to Rwandan parents was arrested and has since been charged with murder and attempted murder. Tensions rose immediately and on Tuesday, the community of Southport saw scenes of violence from these far-right thugs. In the days that followed, we saw the same in Sunderland. And on Saturday, riots and protests took place across the country. The damage that has been done is immeasurable. It will take a long time to heal the divides that have been worsened by these people who took a tragic situation and twisted it to suit their hateful, bigoted narrative.

I live in Kingston upon Hull, and I am proud to live here. Even now, I am immensely proud to be a part of this wonderful city. But the scenes I witnessed on Saturday broke my heart and made me utterly ashamed to be British. At around 11:40am, I walked towards Queen Victoria Square where the violence started. It had been advertised as a ‘peaceful protest’, but anybody with half a brain could recognise the types of people pushing the event are anything but peaceful. I observed for a while, and at around 12:30pm, the so-called ‘protest’ took a turn that would scar our city.

Missiles were launched from the far-right towards peaceful counter-protestors who had been playing Aretha Franklin’s “Respect” just minutes before they had to retreat for their own safety, as food, shortly followed by glass bottles were launched in their direction. I was stood well away from the fray, but a glass bottle landed just feet away from me, signalling that the situation was about to turn. Not long after, police officers in riot gear started to appear, and the far-right crowd started to make moves.

Many stayed within the city centre area, and police were using pepper spray to attempt to disperse the violent crowds. I was away from the situation, observing the scenes from afar, and several people walked past me with tears streaming down their faces and the smell of something horrendous. The first wave of damage to our city centre had been done, with litter all over the floor, and flour that had been thrown at counter-protestors and police leaving a mess.

In the United Kingdom, we have been housing asylum seekers in hotels for quite some time, and Hull is one of those cities housing people in one of our prominent hotels. The far-right crowd, as expected, moved from Queen Victoria Square, down the street which led to that hotel. And the scenes there were indescribable. Anything and everything that was around was thrown towards the hotel, often hitting the riot shields of police officers who had formed a barrier between the far right and the hotel. A loud crash, followed by a disturbing cheer from the crowd signalled they had hit and smashed one of the hotel windows.

As time went on, more and more riot police arrived with police dogs. It wasn’t long until police attempted to move people away from the scene, and I was moved back behind a cordon quite far away from the chaos. Fireworks and flares were being used by the rioters. I stood and spoke to many people, including police officers, before making my way back into the city centre to see what was happening. The chaos continued there, with people launching all sorts of things at police officers — traffic cones, bottles, food, scaffolding and ladders. Within about 40 minutes, the crowd dispersed again, which I naively thought could be the end of the violence.

I made my way down the street towards the hotel, and across the road are a few benches which I sat on and observed the riot police beginning to stand down. Around fifteen minutes later, somebody nearby signalled into the distanced. A huge plume of smoke billowed into the air, and this told me that the riot was far from over. I decided to walk towards the smoke, and as I got closer, the smell was horrendous.

Car tyres had been set alight in the middle of a very busy road which had been cordoned off by riot police with shields. But this was nothing compared to the scenes around the corner.

As I turned the corner, more smoke was flooding the air. As I approached with curiosity and fear, I saw multiple cars on fire with the fire brigade tackling the blazes. Many other cars had been attacked, with windscreens destroyed and people attempting to gain entry to the vehicles, presumably to steal their contents. A car had crashed on the corner, and I later discovered it had driven down towards the far-right crowd unknowingly before trying to reverse, but the crowd attacked the car, and its occupant. On Sunday afternoon, Humberside Police released a statement saying that thankfully, the driver escaped unharmed, but shaken.

By this point, it had gone 5pm, and I had become very tired, and had seen enough. I decided to walk back to where I’m living but was met once again by a crowd of people across the road from the hotel, and the entire road had been cordoned off by riot police. I sat down, mainly out of tiredness, but also out of shock. I spoke to another person for a long time about what I had seen, and as I needed to get past the cordon to be where I needed to go, I had to walk through city centre again, and the only way I can describe what I saw is to say it was like a warzone.

Litter, glass, and God knows what else was all around. As I turned one corner, the density of the crowd was immense. But it was the only way to get where I needed to be. I walked through the horrendous sea of people and witnessed something I never thought I would see. Several shops had been destroyed — their windows broken, and people stealing the contents. One of those shops was LUSH, which sells bath bombs and other personal care products. I lost count of how many people I saw with the stolen goods from that shop. It was horrendous.

Not long after, I saw fire engines arriving and I then discovered that another shop had been broken into and set alight. I hung around for a little longer, watching the scenes unfold. I saw the police charge towards rioters a few times, trying to push them away from what was now an active crime scene.

The scenes continued across the country on Sunday, but thankfully, Hull started its recovery with an amazing clean-up operation conducted by council workers and volunteers. Rightly so, the Prime Minister described the rioters as far-right. Anybody who denies that link needs to have a serious think about the way people conducted themselves. The messaging behind their violence.

I want to play devil’s advocate for a moment. I understand the anger. This country has an issue with uncontrolled immigration, and anybody who denies that is naïve. However, the second you turn that anger into violent thuggery, you lose the argument. I have attended protests in the past and never in a million years considered hurling missiles at police officers, destroying businesses and causing genuine terror for people. It’s sickening.

I will always uphold the principle of lawful protest, but violence is not protest. Shame on all those people.

I want to end this by paying tribute to the police who worked endlessly and tirelessly to try and keep things under control. Under the most horrific circumstances, the likes of which many police officers will never have experienced, they effectively held lines here in Hull, ensuring that the worst damage done to the asylum seeker hotel was a smashed window. I give them my most sincere thanks — they are a credit to our community.

Finally, to those volunteers and council workers who conducted that stellar clean-up operation and got our streets cleaned up in a few hours, thank you. Hull is a beautifully diverse city, and on Saturday, we saw the absolute worst of society. On Sunday, we saw the absolute best.

I hope now that things start to calm down. It’s been a weekend of terror in the United Kingdom, and I know that when the police say they will bring people to justice, I believe them. The full weight of the law should be brought against these people for what they did. Rioting is not an aspect of a civilised democracy. If you participated in these riots, shame on you.