UK government pans protesters for ‘hijacking’ controversial death of stabbed student |
LONDON (AP) — Britain’s interior minister accused activists of hijacking a tragedy to stir up violence after police were attacked at a protest over the death of a teenager who was handcuffed as he lay dying while his killer stood nearby.
Police were pelted with chairs, cans, rocks, and flares on Tuesday by some of the hundreds of people who attended a protest in the English southern coastal city of Southampton, where Henry Nowak was killed in December. Two people were arrested, and 11 officers and a police dog were injured, police said.
Nowak’s death has triggered debates about policing and knife crime and has spurred claims by far-right activists and politicians that there is bias against white people in the justice system.
Nowak’s killer, Vickrum Digwa, who is Sikh, falsely claimed he was the victim of a racist assault by 18-year-old Nowak, who was white. When police officers arrived, they initially treated the wounded man as a suspect before noticing his injury and trying to resuscitate him.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Wednesday that the case had left “serious questions to answer, including how accusations of racism informed police thinking.” But he called the street violence “disgraceful and completely unacceptable.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said Nowak’s family had “made a powerful call to us all yesterday to not let Henry’s death be used to create further division, hatred or tension.”
“There can be no........