Protesters clash with riot police in Southampton near where Henry Nowak was murdered

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Police were pelted with bricks and forced to retreat

• Police holding riot shields have clashed with protesters close to where Henry Nowak was stabbed to death.
• A police helicopter hovered overhead as officers were pelted with stones on a residential street in the St Denys area of Southampton before they charged with perspex shields in an attempt to push the crowd back.
• Demonstrators chanted “Henry, Henry” as the line of police were pelted with bricks and forced to retreated again.
• Following an earlier protest outside Southampton Central Police station, a large group walked across town to the area of St Denys, close to where the murder took place.
• Chairs, cans and flares were thrown at police in riot gear, eventually forcing officers and three police vans back from the line they had been holding.
• Henry Nowak, aged 18, was murdered by 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa, who told police attending the scene that he had been the victim of a racist attack.
• The murder, and the circumstances around the death which saw Mr Nowak handcuffed by Hampshire Police, have seen politicians clash, with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage calling for the response to be ‘pure, cold rage’.
• Body-worn camera footage from the incident appeared to show Mr Nowak, who had received two stab wounds on the back of his legs and a fatal wound to his heart, repeatedly pleading “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe” while being handcuffed.
• On Monday, Digwa was jailed for life to serve a minimum of 21 years for stabbing Mr Nowak with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade prosecutors said was a kirpan, which he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
• Prime Minister Keir Starmer told broadcasters: “I think Nigel Farage’s reaction is the wrong reaction, and I start my answer to your question through the eyes of the family. They have said they do not want this whipped up. They have been through the most extraordinary, awful experience. They don’t want this whipped up. And Nigel Farage is completely wrong to use this to try and create division. He would be wrong in any circumstances, but when Henry’s family are saying please don’t do that, it is our son, then really politicians as human beings should start where they start. And that is where I start.”
• The Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) is planning to report on the police handling of Henry Nowak’s murder in the next three months, Shabana Mahmood said.
• In her response to Southampton Itchen MP Darren Paffey in the House of Commons, the Home Secretary said: “The IOPC will and do have the resources that they need in order to conduct their investigation and I know that they will do so with the full independence that is afforded to them in our system. I understand that they intend to report finally within the net three months, and I do believe that a meeting is now taking place with the family.”

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