Those people in there are your enemy. They're not your friends.
In Southampton, a genuine public grief over the death of Henry Nowak — killed by police after a false accusation — became something else by nightfall. Recognizable figures from Britain's far-right movements arrived not to mourn or question, but to harvest: turning a community's legitimate anguish into fuel for agendas spanning deportation, Christian nationalism, and racial grievance. Eleven officers were injured in the violence that followed, and the disorder itself became the message — proof, in the hands of those who engineered it, that a country is breaking apart.
- Henry Nowak's death in police custody ignited real and widespread outrage, drawing thousands of ordinary Southampton residents into the streets demanding accountability.
- Far-right leaders including Tommy Robinson, Laurence Fox, and Paul Golding arrived with prepared speeches and cameras, redirecting collective grief toward anti-immigrant rhetoric and calls for political insurrection.
- Community leaders warn that protesters were deliberately bused in by organised extremist networks, suggesting the infiltration was coordinated rather than spontaneous.
- As the night progressed, bricks and bins were hurled at riot officers, eleven police and a police dog were injured, and the violence was filmed and framed by far-right content creators as evidence of national collapse.
- What began as a question about policing and justice has been absorbed into a broader extremist mobilisation — the disorder now serving as recruitment material, grievance currency, and political spectacle.
On a Tuesday night in Southampton, thousands gathered outside the local police station to demand answers about Henry Nowak, a man killed by police after being falsely accused of racism by the person who shot him. Many in the crowd were ordinary residents, genuinely troubled by how Nowak had been treated in his final moments. But they were not alone.
Among them stood some of Britain's most prominent far-right figures, each with a prepared message. Tommy Robinson called for the shooter's family to be expelled from the city and argued that white people face unequal treatment from police. Laurence Fox told the crowd that the officers inside the station were their enemies, not their friends. Paul Golding urged people to convert their anger into political action, invoking anti-immigration rhetoric barely disguised as concern for justice. Nick Tenconi, Ukip's leader, pledged mass deportations and the reinstatement of Christianity into government — then read the Lord's Prayer in Nowak's name.
As the evening wore on, the protest turned violent. Bricks and bins were thrown at riot officers. Eleven police and a police dog were injured. Two arrests were made. Several far-right figures were filmed in direct confrontation with police, while others recorded the disorder and broadcast it as evidence of a nation in crisis.
Community leaders have since raised alarm that far-right groups deliberately bused people into Southampton to inflate the crowd and steer events toward violence. What had begun as a legitimate public reckoning with a death in custody was systematically converted into a platform for extremist politics — deportation, Christian nationalism, racial grievance. The footage of disorder was not an unfortunate outcome. For those who came prepared, it was the point.
On a Tuesday night in Southampton, thousands gathered outside the police station to demand answers about Henry Nowak's death. He had been killed by police after being falsely accused of racism by the man who shot him, Vickrum Digwa—and then handcuffed by officers before he died. Many who came were ordinary people, genuinely outraged by what had happened to Nowak and how the police had handled him in his final moments.
But the crowd that assembled also included some of the most recognizable figures in Britain's far-right movement, and they came with their own agendas. Tommy Robinson, whose legal name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, stood outside the station and called for Digwa's family to be expelled from the city. "The fact that he is walking the street is insane," Robinson told the crowd, before pivoting to a familiar grievance: that white people faced different treatment from the police than non-white people. Yaxley-Lennon is currently awaiting trial on harassment charges related to two Daily Mail journalists. Laurence Fox, a former actor and failed London mayoral candidate who founded the far-right Reclaim party, made a more pointed argument. In a video about Nowak's death, he suggested that if the victim had been a young Black man, "the whole country would be on fire." Then, pointing at the police station itself, he told the crowd: "Those people in there are your enemy. They're not your friends."
The protest had been organized by Southampton Patriots and backed by Turning Point UK and Patriots of Britain. As the evening progressed, the gathering turned violent. Protesters threw bricks and bins at riot officers. Eleven police officers and a police dog were injured in the clashes. Two people were arrested. While much of the violence occurred after many of the main speakers had departed, some of the far-right figures present could be seen directly involved in confrontations with riot police.
Paul Golding, leader of Britain First and a former member of the British National Party, used his platform to reframe the protest in explicitly political terms. He urged the crowd to "take your anger and turn it into political action," before claiming that police were ignoring "the real criminals who are turning Britain into a foreign country"—a familiar anti-immigration dog whistle. Nick Tenconi, who leads Ukip after previously serving as a senior figure at Turning Point UK, made his pitch even more direct: he pledged to begin mass deportations and to "reinstate Christianity back into the heart of government," before reading the Lord's Prayer "for Henry."
Others worked the crowd in different ways. Gregory Moffitt, known online as Young Bob, filmed the violence and claimed it "perfectly demonstrates the sentiment in the country," arguing that "native people are not properly policed." Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, also known as Posie Parker, blamed Nowak's death on schools teaching critical race theory, then told a GB News reporter that "whites are at the bottom of the priority list, so we're assumed to be guilty." Anthony Barnes, who runs a YouTube channel with over 141,000 subscribers under the name AY Audits, was present filming the disorder. Chris Wickland, a senior pastor at an evangelical church and close associate of Robinson, was also filmed at the gathering.
Community leaders have raised serious concerns that far-right groups deliberately bused people into the area to swell the numbers and steer the protest toward violence. What began as a legitimate public response to a death in police custody—a response rooted in real questions about how Nowak was treated—became a platform for extremists to advance their own political projects: mass deportation, Christian nationalism, anti-transgender activism, and the scapegoating of immigrants and religious minorities. The violence that followed gave them exactly what they needed: footage, grievance, and proof of disorder they could point to as evidence of a country in crisis.
Notable Quotes
The fact that he is walking the street is insane— Tommy Robinson, calling for Digwa's family to be removed from Southampton
Those people in there are your enemy. They're not your friends— Laurence Fox, addressing protesters outside the police station
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why would far-right leaders show up to a protest about a police killing? That seems like an odd fit.
Because legitimate anger is a resource. When people are already upset about something real—a death, injustice—it's easier to redirect that anger toward your own political enemies and causes. They didn't create the protest; they infiltrated it.
But wouldn't people notice they were being used?
Some did. But in a crowd of thousands, with speeches happening, with emotion running high, the line between genuine grievance and political manipulation gets blurry. And these figures have platforms—they know how to speak to anger.
What about the violence? Did they cause it directly?
The source says the violence happened after many speakers had left, but some of the far-right figures were seen in the clashes themselves. It's not clear who threw the first brick. What matters is that their presence, their rhetoric about enemies and invasion, creates the conditions where violence becomes more likely.
So the real story isn't just about the police killing, then.
No. The real story is how a moment of genuine public grief gets colonized by people with their own agendas—deportation, Christian nationalism, anti-immigration politics. They use Nowak's death as a vehicle for something much larger.
And the community leaders worried about buses bringing people in?
That suggests coordination. This wasn't spontaneous. Far-right groups planned to be there, planned to speak, planned to amplify. They saw an opening and they took it.