Unrest over death of British student
The release of police bodycam footage of the death of a student who was stabbed last December has sparked public outrage in the UK. Eighteen-year-old Henry Nowak died from his injuries after the police treated him as the attacker rather than the victim, handcuffing instead of assisting him. The perpetrator, a Sikh, claimed he had been racially assaulted and had acted in self-defence. He has now been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Distorted police behaviour
The Neue Zürcher Zeitung notes:
“The misconduct of the police, who blindly believed allegations of racism and ignored life-threatening injuries, is more than just a tragic isolated incident. Even though the events still need further investigation, they fit into the broader picture of a British police force whose priorities have become confused. Instead of enforcing law and order, it is fighting for diversity and against alleged racism. ... Police officers describe a culture of 'diversity and inclusion' that is having a negative impact on their work. Many young officers are now so afraid of accusations of discrimination that they no longer rely on their judgement and common sense.”
Middle-class hypocrisy
Commentator Brendan O'Neill is up in arms in The Spectator:
“The same leftists who poured onto the streets to rage over the death of George Floyd are barking at the rest of us not to rage over the death of young Henry. ... Angry men and women gathered to roar 'I CAN'T BREATHE' – Henry's last words. How crass, said snooty leftists all over social media. ... There's more than hypocrisy at play here. We are witnessing the drawing of a line between the well-informed, righteous fury of the middle classes and the apparently low-information rage of the lower orders. If you are from leafy London, have a university degree and use phrases like 'structural racism', you’re allowed to vent your fury. If you read a tabloid newspaper ... you are not.”
An inverted racism debate
We cannot allow this murder to be weaponised, warns The Guardian:
“The right has been allowed to seize the narrative around Nowak's death to construct an inverted reality. ... Black people in Britain are seven times more likely than white people to die after police restraint. Black children in England and Wales are almost eight times more likely to be strip-searched and are also overrepresented in the use of force through tasers and handcuffs. ... Nowak's case could be pulled into this long history of policing failures; instead it has been spun as a nativist tale that represents the threat that immigrant and minority communities present to white British people.”