Violent protests and questions after Nowak murder case sentencing

Protestors clashed with police in several areas of Southampton, as they marched from the centre of the city to the neighbourhood of Vickrum Digwa, the 23-year-old who was sentenced to life in prison on Monday (June 1, 2026) for murdering 18-year-old Henry Nowak.

Mr. Digwa, a Sikh, had used a long-bladed knife he was carrying on his person to commit the murder and then lied to police officers, saying Mr. Nowak had not been stabbed and that he (Digwa) had been racially abused. Police initially believed Digwa’s claims and arrested Mr. Nowak as he lay bleeding to death.

Far-right figure Tommy Robinson and actor Laurence Fox addressed the crowd gathered in central Southampton on Tuesday (June 2, 2026), following which a group marched to the Portswood area, near where Mr. Nowak was murdered. Video footage showed protestors hurling projectiles at riot police, with some chanting, “Henry, Henry”.

U.K. Home Secretary called the violence “unacceptable”.

“There can be no justification for hijacking this tragedy to stir up violence and disorder. Those responsible can expect to face the full force of the law,” she said.

Police bodycam footage released on Tuesday (June 2, 2026) has sparked questions around who can carry knives as well as outrage around the relationship between race and policing responses.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had “felt sick” on seeing the footage.

While Mr. Nowak’s father, Mark, cautioned against further division and hatred, the response of some political actors from the hard right has been different; Reform UK leader Nigel Farage asked people to respond with “pure cold rage”.

One police officer involved in the incident had already resigned, while three others are still working, and a probe by the Independent Office for Police Conduct is underway.

Another police officer who was misidentified online and subject to death threats had to relocate with his family, Ms. Mahmood told the U.K. Parliament on Tuesday (June 2, 2026).

Individuals who were scapegoating the entire Sikh community, like those associated with Reform UK and Restore (another hard-right political party), needed “to have a history lesson”, said Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Deshi, who is a Sikh.

“Tens of thousands of Sikh soldiers fought bravely alongside British service personnel during both World Wars,” Mr. Deshi told the BBC in a televised interview on Wednesday (June 3, 2026). He explained that the murder weapon was not a kirpan (the ceremonial dagger carried by Sikhs) but a larger and longer weapon, the Pesh-Kabz, which he said was used in historically in battles to pierce through body armour.

Sikhs prided themselves in being integrated with the wider community, Mr. Deshi said .

“But they are very, very fearful now because of the calls to ban the kirpan, which means that they will not be able to freely and peacefully practice their faith,” he said.

In a court transcript of Monday’s (June 1, 2026) sentencing the judge had referred to the knife as a “kirpan”.

“You are a member of an order of Sikhs called the Nihang who have a tradition of having a second knife, or kirpan, and that is often fully visible,” the judge had said, as per court records.