Eleven police officers and a police dog were injured in a violent far-right protest in Southampton on Tuesday night, after a rally billed as ‘Justice for Henry Nowak’, the 18-year-old British student killed in December by a Nihang Sikh man, Vickrum Digwa, turned into a full-blown riot addressed by far-right activist Tommy Robinson, with bricks, bottles and wheelie bins thrown at police defending the killer’s home.
UK Sikh community organisations and the British Sikhs All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) have separately condemned the killing as “the criminal act of an individual who alone bears the responsibility for his actions”, while warning that the broader Sikh community of approximately 520,000 British Sikhs, the vast majority of British-Indian origin, has “unacceptably faced considerable abuse and hate” in the trial’s aftermath.
What happened in Southampton
The protest began Tuesday with hundreds rallying across the city, marching toward the residence of Vickrum Digwa, 23, who had stabbed Henry Nowak five times with a kirpan in December last year after falsely telling police that Nowak had racially abused and assaulted him. Digwa was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum 21-year tariff on Monday at Southampton Crown Court.
The rally escalated into violence as protesters threw bricks, beer cans, bottles and wheelie bins at riot police stationed to prevent the crowd from reaching Digwa’s home. Residents in Portswood described the night as “absolutely petrifying”.
Hampshire’s Chief Constable Alexis Boon condemned the riot. “What we, as a society, cannot accept is the violent scenes we saw in Southampton last night,” Boon said, confirming that 11 officers and a police dog had been injured while protecting the community and that “makeshift weapons were used and innocent residents’ homes and vehicles were damaged.” Two arrests have been made, with experienced officers set to remain deployed in the coming days.
Tommy Robinson and the ‘Justice for Henry Nowak’ rally
Far-right activist Tommy Robinson was among those who addressed the crowd outside Southampton’s central police station during the rally. Protesters chanted “Racist police, off our streets” and held signs reading “Henry’s blood is on your hands”.
Bodycam footage released by Hampshire Police after Digwa’s Monday conviction showed Nowak telling officers he had been stabbed and saying “I can’t breathe,” as police, misled by Digwa’s false claim of having been racially attacked, handcuffed the dying teenager rather than treating him as a victim.
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UK Sikh organisations: ‘This was not about religion’
UK Sikh organisations have moved quickly to distance the broader community from Digwa’s actions. The British Sikhs All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), a cross-party body of MPs working with Sikh community organisations, issued a joint statement that frames the case as a question of individual criminal responsibility, not religious identity.
“This case was about the murder of Henry Nowak by Vickrum Digwa,” the APPG said. “It is not about religion or racism. It was the criminal act of an individual who alone bears the responsibility for his actions.”
UK Sikh community groups separately called the killing “a moment of madness by an individual for which there can be no excuses.” But they also warned that the “wider Sikh community has unacceptably faced considerable abuse and hate during the trial as many do not understand the law, the significance of the kirpan or the responsibility associated with wearing a kirpan.”
The community groups also noted that “the weapon that may have been used was not the normal kirpan worn by fully practicing Sikhs.”
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The kirpan and Sikh religious practice
The kirpan is one of the five Ks of Sikhism — the five articles of faith carried by initiated Sikhs — alongside kesh (uncut hair, maintained under a turban), kara (a steel bracelet), kanga (a small wooden comb), and kachera (cotton shorts). The word kirpan derives from kirpa (grace) and aan (defence), and Sikh tradition describes the blade as a symbol of dignity, justice and the duty to protect the vulnerable rather than as a weapon for aggression.
Under UK law, kirpans are legal for religious, ceremonial, sporting or historical use, following a 2019 amendment to the Offensive Weapons Bill that the Indian government and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had welcomed.
In sentencing Digwa on Monday, Judge William Mousley acknowledged that the killer belonged to the Nihang order of Sikhs, a martial Sikh tradition associated with the historical defence of the faith, who “have a tradition of having a second knife that is often fully visible.” But Mousley stressed, “It is a religious and, consequently, legal requirement that a kirpan should only be used offensively as a last resort, which would include its use in legal self-defence.”
The prosecution told the jury at Southampton Crown Court that while Digwa was wearing a small kirpan under his clothing around his neck, which met his religious obligation, he also chose to carry a much larger blade that the judge described as “a large Sikh dagger”.
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The Nowak family’s appeal against division
Henry Nowak, a finance student at the University of Southampton, was attacked on Belmont Road on December 3, 2025, as he walked home alone after a night out with friends. Five stab wounds proved fatal.
Nowak’s father, Mark, in a statement issued after Monday’s conviction, condemned the “inhumane and degrading” police treatment of his dying son but explicitly urged the public not to let his son’s death fuel further hatred or division, saying he wanted Henry’s story to make British streets safer for everyone.
(Written by Nityanjali Bulsu, who is an intern with The Indian Express)
