Southampton riot: 11 officers, police dog injured amid disorder over Henry Nowak murder

Eleven officers and a police dog were injured amid disorder by those claiming to protest over Henry Nowak’s murder, the chief of Hampshire police said, accusing those involved of being “determined to spark fear and division”.

A trail of destruction was left on the streets of Southampton after Tuesday night’s riot with car windows smashed and bricks strewn across roads.

The evening began relatively peacefully outside Southampton central police station but turned ugly when hundreds of people marched across the city to the neighbourhood where 18-year-old Nowak died and where his killer, Vickrum Digwa, lived.

Protesters hurled bricks, wheelie bins, bottles and beer cans at riot police as officers in riot gear stopped them reaching Digwa’s family home.

On Wednesday, the chief constable of Hampshire police, Alexis Boon, said 11 officers and a police dog were injured doing their job “to protect the communities that we serve”.

“What we, as a society, cannot accept is the violent scenes we saw in Southampton last night,” he said. “Some clearly arrived intent on causing disorder and trouble. We saw bottles thrown, makeshift weapons used, damage caused to the homes and vehicles of innocent residents and threats and violence directed towards our officers.”

He added: “While we are forced to deal with those determined to spark fear and division, our finite resources are taken away from those who need it most.”

Boon said experienced officers would remain on the streets to keep the community safe in the coming days. He promised to bring those involved in violence on Tuesday evening to justice and said there had been two arrests.

On Wednesday, residents in the Portswood area said they were terrified as protesters gathered near their homes.

Sophie Martin, who is a near neighbour of the Digwa family, said both of their families’ cars were smashed up.

She said: “It was absolutely terrifying. Our two young boys were asleep. It is just an absolute destruction, and I just thought, what am I going to tell the kids, they’re three and six. It was absolutely petrifying. I know they weren’t targeting us but my other half has decided not to go to work today.

“There is glass absolutely everywhere. We are going to be massively out of pocket. Even when the rioting had stopped and we had taped up the cars we still couldn’t sleep because we were worried they would come back. A few people have said we should move out for a bit.”

The far-right activist Tommy Robinson was among those who addressed crowds outside the police station during the protest billed as “Justice for Henry Nowak”.

People chanted: “Racist police, off our streets” and “Shame on you”. They held union flags and homemade signs with slogans such as “Henry’s blood is on your hands”, “Save our kids” and “Prison 4 police on scene”.

Nowak, a student at the University of Southampton, was stabbed five times by Digwa, 23. Police arrested and handcuffed Nowak after Digwa claimed the teenager had racially abused and assaulted him.