The police and lawmakers in Britain urged calm on Wednesday after a night of protest that devolved into violence in the city of Southampton, in southern England, on the heels of a shocking murder case.
After footage was released on Monday evening of officers handcuffing a stabbing victim, Henry Nowak, while his attacker looked on last December, right-wing commentators and politicians claimed that the British police were biased against white people.
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After Tommy Robinson, a far-right agitator with multiple criminal convictions, posted calls online for people to gather in Southampton on Tuesday night, hundreds of people congregated outside the main police station there.
Mr. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, told the crowds, “This is about race, he was murdered because he was white.” The authorities have not alleged that Mr. Nowak’s killing was racially motivated.
Demonstrators tried to enter the street where the convicted killer’s family lives and attacked officers who had blocked the road, as well as elsewhere in the city. Footage shows protesters throwing rocks, flares and garbage cans at the police, and punching and kicking officers’ riot shields.
Shabana Mahmood, the British home secretary, who oversees policing, called the scenes “completely unacceptable.”
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Eleven police officers were wounded in the violence, according to the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, which oversees policing in Southampton.
In a video posted on Reform’s social media sites on Tuesday morning, Mr. Farage claimed that the British police had “anti-white prejudice” and encouraged his followers to “respond with pure cold rage.” Lawmakers across the political spectrum condemned his statements as divisive.
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The murder has been used to call for the banning of the kirpan, which Sikhs have a legal right to carry.
Tan Dhesi, the first Sikh member of Parliament to wear a turban, criticized those who have tried to make the murder case about race or religion. “This wasn’t about Sikhism, it’s not about racism, it’s about the murder committed by one violent individual,” he told Sky News.
He said that the weapon used in the attack was known as a pesh-kabz, an “Indo-Persian weapon used centuries ago in battles to pierce through body armor.”
“It was used by somebody with an obsession with dangerous weapons,” he said, an observation that the prosecution had also made during Mr. Digwa’s trial.
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