Last weekend, a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham was besieged and set alight by a group of far-right rioters. The scenes, which quickly circulated on social media, were terrifying. “The number of fascists seemed to grow exponentially, reaching nearly 1000 by the end,” Sam* tells Dazed. “Our stewards made the call to withdraw as glass bottles, full cans of beer and eggs were lobbed from across the road.”

Sam was joined by 150 others, who had all gathered at the Rotherham Hotel Inn Express to show solidarity with the asylum seekers inside, chanting slogans such as “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here.” But they were vastly outnumbered. “The moment that really destroyed us was seeing a placard venerating Enoch Powell and his rivers of blood speech making its way down the road,” Sam continues. “As the placard closed in on us, a thunderous roar of applause erupted, completely drowning out our megaphone chanting. There were kids there, some older, some younger, all of whom seemed excited about this fascism they were engaging in.”

Violent riots like this have engulfed cities in the UK over the last few days. Clips have surfaced which show a Black man being outnumbered and violently attacked by a mob of white men in Manchester, and an Asian Muslim man stabbed in Liverpool just as far-right thugs surrounded a mosque in the neighbourhood. Earlier this week (August 6), a man wielding a hedge trimmer was filmed chasing after a Muslim couple in Manchester.

Some of the commentary has tried to understand the violence as a symptom of ‘legitimate concerns’ about immigration, but it’s hard not to treat that as a distraction from the reality of the hatred that has been steadily brewing in Britain. This was not a legitimate community response to a tragedy, or a protest which began with good intentions before being hijacked by a few bad apples and spiralling out of control. Nor – as has been suggested – was it primarily an expression of economic despair. After more than a decade of crippling Conservative rule and the newly elected Labour government doing its best impersonation of them, economic concerns are no doubt held widely across the country. But they were not the driving force behind the looting and terrorising of communities. 

“This hatred has boiled over, and the most vulnerable in our society are paying a price for it. We mustn’t have any expectations that our press or politicians will do anything meaningful to keep us safe” – Sam*

If it were otherwise, the rioters wouldn’t have torched the Spellow Lane Library Hub in Liverpool, which serves as a food bank for one of the most deprived communities in the country. Nor would they have set fire to a Citizens Advice Bureau in Sunderland, which gave free advice to struggling families to help them navigate the challenges of fuel and poverty. Far from being a howl of protest at an unjust economic order, the riots mostly targeted the victims, not the perpetrators, of austerity.

In many ways, these riots come as no surprise. For too long, a deadly, multi-pronged approach has defined the treatment of minority communities in the UK: their singling out has been considered fair game and even a source of valuable political capital by politicians. This is particularly apparent when it comes to the Muslim community. A dossier submitted to the EHRC in 2020 by the Muslim Council of Britain exposed a culture of rampant Islamophobia within the Conservative Party, and urged the equalities watchdog to investigate it. Yet the EHRC ignored it, dropping any plans to investigate the party. 

It’s not just the Conservatives: two separate Labour Muslim Network reports under Keir Starmer’s leadership have detailed unrestrained Islamophobia within the party, with Muslim members directly experiencing Islamophobia and concurrently not feeling confident in the leadership’s capacity – or willingness – to take it seriously. 2022’s Forde Report also corroborated the party had failed to adequately tackle anti-Black racism and Islamophobia. When sections of the British Muslim community deserted the party en-masse in the recent election because the party had failed to take seriously their concerns – most notably on the genocide in Gaza – Keir Starmer was dismissive when asked about the importance of rebuilding trust with British Muslims. Meanwhile, when the community operated strategically at the ballot box, this was smeared as a dangerously ‘sectarian’  and ‘alarming’ introduction of ‘faith-based politics’.

We’ve also seen a mainstreaming of incendiary language on immigration, which has dehumanised migrants and fueled hatred. In an interview with The Sun in June, Keir Starmer expressed his frustration that “people coming from countries like Bangladesh” were not “being removed”. And just days before the mob at Rotherham lit fires and attacked the hotel housing asylum seekers, the Labour MP for the constituency relayed in Parliament that residents in the area ‘want their hotel back’.

There’s also the media, whose alarmist language has been whipping up hatred for years. Earlier this week, Labour MP for Coventry South Zarah Sultana called out the Daily Mail’s antagonistic coverage, whether it’s amplifying Nigel Farage’s warnings of an invasion at the English Channel or stoking fears of ghettos being created in communities where migrants will be housed. Even the BBC has been criticised for its coverage of the ongoing race riots, describing them in one region as ‘pro-British’ marches.

And that’s why in different towns, the slogans chanted, the graffiti sprayed and the slurs invoked are unanimous in their intolerance. It’s an embodiment of a population that has overdosed on the poison it was fed for years. “This hatred has boiled over, and the most vulnerable in our society are paying a price for it,” says Sam. “We mustn’t have any expectations that our press or politicians will do anything meaningful to keep us safe.”

But while these riots were intended to weaken and break the communities targeted, the opposite has unfolded. The imam of the Abdullah Quilliam mosque in Liverpool, Adam Kelwick, invited the rioters into the mosque as they targeted it on Friday evening (August 2). He was determined to cross the police line and speak to the people on the other side, handing out drinks, burgers and hugs.

He believes in the power of dialogue to remedy divisions. Speaking to Dazed, Kelwick details his experience when he sat down with some of the people who had initially gathered outside the mosque, along with those who had participated in ‘save our children’ rallies.‘ “[Afterwards] they expressed their regrets and said they would no longer take any part in it,” they say. “Some of them are influential people within the community who are now using their platforms and are actively online helping to de-escalate matters and extinguish some of the flames.”

“Almost everybody is still worried. Lots of Muslims have told me they’re staying at home and encouraging their family and friends to do the same. But there’s been no shortage of support – lots in the Liverpool community pulling together, re-assuring one another and pledging to stand by anybody targeted.”

Ali*, a resident and activist from Liverpool, tells Dazed about the response in the city. “‘Everybody has come together,” she says. “Following the fire at the library, group chats were overflowing with messages with people asking how best they could volunteer and help. Some put the library in touch with publishers to restock books for free.”

“When buildings were damaged and vandalised, local tradesmen and tradeswomen were quick on the scene to repair and rebuild,” she continues. “Lots of people have been leafleting and raising awareness about the plight in areas, ensuring everyone is safe and directing communities to support mechanisms that exist.”

The anti-racist counter-protests that took place across the country last night (August 8) show that there is far more to be hopeful about, and that we are strongest when we stand together. But there is no doubt that this is a dark chapter. As a British Palestinian Muslim, I am beginning to realise that it is a full circle moment: our elders told bleak stories of far-right riots and racial violence making their cities unsafe, and now we are grappling with the same. The bulk of our elected representatives can’t be relied upon as allies in the face of this, because it is their doing. 

*Some names have been changed