Far-right protesters have vandalised a hotel housing asylum seekers in the northern English town of Rotherham, as the UK grapples with its worst unrest in 13 years.
On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered outside a Holiday Inn Express hotel used to house asylum seekers near Rotherham, before throwing bricks at police and smashing several windows of the hotel, then setting fire to bins.
Footage from British broadcaster Sky News showed a line of police officers with shields facing a barrage of missiles, including pieces of wood, chairs and fire extinguishers, as they tried to prevent rioters from entering the hotel.
A police helicopter hovered overhead and at least one injured officer in riot gear was taken away as the atmosphere grew increasingly feverish.
The riots are the latest outbreak of unrest in the U.K. to grip the nation, following a stabbing attack at a dance class last week in northern England that left three girls dead and several injured.
False rumours that the youth involved in the Southport stabbing was Muslim and an immigrant have spread online, fuelling anger among the far right in the country, police officials say.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Sunday there was “no justification” for far-right violence, which has led to attacks on mosques and assaults on Muslims and ethnic minorities.
“People in this country have a right to be safe and yet we have seen Muslim communities attacked and mosques attacked,” Starmer said.
The Prime Minister added that he “will not hesitate to call him.” [the rioting] what it is” and that is “far-right bullying”.
“For those who feel attacked because of the color of their skin or their faith, I know how terrifying this must be,” she said.
“I want you to know that this violent mob does not represent this country and we will bring them to justice.”
Some had criticised Starmer for not being vocal enough in denouncing the explicitly racist and Islamophobic nature of some of the attacks carried out by the rioters.
Zarah Sultana, a Labour MP who is currently suspended from the party for voting against the government, called on social media for Parliament to be recalled after its summer break.
This is the moment rioters set fire to grass in Rotherham as police hold a line in front of them.
Rioters also stormed a Holiday Inn hotel and threw objects toward police.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 4, 2024
Xenophobic rhetoric
Elsewhere in the UK, the mood has also been particularly tense. In the north-east town of Middlesborough, protesters managed to break free from a police guard. When protests began in Bolton, near Manchester, police said a dispersal order had been authorised to give officers extra powers to tackle anti-social behaviour.
Police officials have said many of the actions are being organised online by far-right groups who are mobilising support online with phrases such as “enough is enough”, “save our children” and “stop the boats”. They are tapping into a narrative – amplified by right-wing media and commentators – about the scale of immigration into the country, particularly the tens of thousands of migrants and refugees arriving in small boats from France across the English Channel.
Critics have repeatedly pointed out that the spread of misinformation and the amplification of xenophobic rhetoric about immigrants and minority communities in the UK have led to the current outbreak of violence.
Rosa Freedman, a professor at the University of Reading, told Al Jazeera that the riots in the UK were a result of the previous Conservative government, which lost power last month, giving legitimacy to a small minority of “racists”.
“Instead of hiding their faces, they have now been coming out… we cannot blame a Labour Party that has [only] state in government [for] the last four weeks,” he said.
“There is a conversation that needs to take place in the UK and other countries about immigration… we also need to approach this from a human rights perspective.”
Police have said the calls to riot are coming from a diffuse group of social media accounts, but a key player in amplifying them is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a long-time far-right agitator who uses the name Tommy Robinson.
Yaxley-Lennon, 41, has been jailed for assault, contempt of court and mortgage fraud and currently faces an arrest warrant after leaving the UK last week ahead of a scheduled hearing in the contempt of court case against him.
Meanwhile, Nigel Farage, who was elected to Parliament in July for the first time as leader of Reform UK, has also been blamed by many for indirectly fuelling the anti-immigrant sentiment that has been evident in recent days.
While condemning the violence, Farage criticised the government for blaming “a few far-right thugs” and said “the far right is a reaction to fear… shared by tens of millions of people”.
Anti-far-right group Hope Not Hate condemned the portrayal of the protests as “displays of legitimate anger.”
“They are not. This is racist violence incited by right-wing hatred,” the group said in a statement. “Those directly involved in these horrific scenes must face the full force of the law.”
“The responsibility also lies with those who have promoted and defended these riots, such as Tommy Robinson. This explosion of racist violence across the country is the result of years of far-right agitation,” the group said. “However, these events are also the result of a climate of anti-Muslim and anti-asylum seeker hostility fuelled by elements of our mainstream media and so-called politicians.”
