Tragedy hijacked? Protesters throw bins at police

A furious Sir Keir Starmer has accused Nigel Farage of 'exploiting' the death of Henry Nowak and 'appealing for rage' in a fiery exchange during PMQs.

The PM said that Mr Farage's calls for rage following the murder of 18-year-old Henry Nowak were "unforgivable".

Mr Farage had told the House of Commons Britain was living under "two-tier policing" and said: "The instructions that are given to police officers from police bosses are clear and written down in ink. It says you must treat different ethnic groups in different ways."

Referring to violent protests against police last night which left 11 officers and a dog injured, Farage said public anger was "in danger of getting considerably worse" as he called on the PM to "take some action" to end two-tier policing.

Hitting back, an angry Sir Keir said: "I don't believe there's two-tier policing in this country.

"I'm really shocked that he pretends to have respect for Henry's family and then acts in this way. They are a grieving family.

"The grieving family have asked us not to respond in the way... they make a simple pledge to us as human beings to please not exploit that. 'His response has been to appeal for rage. Rage.

"That's his response to a father who has lost his son and asked this not to happen. To do it when the family are expressly saying please don't is unforgivable. It shows exactly who he is."

Henry Nowak's father Mark has urged for his son's death not "to be used to create further division, hatred or tension".

The 18-year-old was stabbed to death in December with a ceremonial knife by Vickrum Digwa, 23. He was then handcuffed by police and bled to death.

Digwa, who was given a life sentence with a minimum of 21 years for stabbing Mr Nowak with a 21cm blade, told police at the scene he had been the victim of a racist attack.

Mr Farage has claimed the fatal stabbing of 18-year-old Henry Nowak and the police response that followed are evidence of what he called “two-tier Britain” and called for the public to “respond to this with pure cold rage".

So far, eleven people have been arrested in connection with the flash protest where missiles and projectiles were thrown at police dressed in riot gear. An officer also narrowly avoided being hit by an e-scooter which had been thrown from a height, it was also reported.

Bricks, bottles, gravel, chairs, flares, cans and parts of broken fences were also repeatedly launched.

The case has been seized on by politicians including Nigel Farage and tech billionaire Elon Musk.

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