Barbed wire and looking over your shoulder: Middlesbrough residents fearful after riots

Published

11 months ago

October 9, 2024

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Parliament Road in Middlesbrough feels a world away from the establishment it shares a name with, but for one Sunday in August, the terraced streets of central Middlesbrough were at the centre of national attention.

That afternoon, what was advertised as a peaceful protest, turned into a riot, with hundreds of people, many of them wearing masks, targeting livelihoods and businesses in one of the city’s most diverse areas.

They lit fires, smashed windows and clashed with the police.

Hundreds of arrests have been made and dozens of those people sentenced, but months on, the impact of that day can still be felt.

Not just in the cracked windows and debris still on the street, but in the deeper fabric of a community who are concerned about not just those events, but bigger issues they feel have blighted the area for far longer.

One of those people is Pervaz Akhtar, who has lived in Middlesbrough for more than three decades and runs a phone shop on Parliament Road.

After having his stock burgled on more than half a dozen occasions in two years, he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Every evening he spends more than half an hour unrolling a ring of razor wire, to cover both the shop floor and the counters.

“I’ve got the police alarm, I’ve got the CCTV cameras, I’ve got the shutters, everything.”

“But I think this is the best thing to do,” he says, gesturing to the razor wire, which he has to fold into wooden crates every morning while wearing protective gloves.

That process, which has become a daily routine, takes him around 40 minutes.

‘I’m depressed’

Even with a deterrent in place however, he still feels unsafe and is now considering leaving the business altogether.

“I just put the shop up for sale now,” he says.

“I think, before I’m not giving up, but (now) I’m depressed, because all the time I never know when somebody will come and show me a knife and take the phones away.”

Mr Akhtar’s discontent only deepened this summer when his home and car were damaged by rioters.

In footage he shared with Sky News, a group of young men climbed on top of the vehicle, smashing the windscreen.

The shop owner says his whole family were impacted by what happened.

His wife, who is a carer, needed to find another vehicle to get to work, while one of his two young sons has been left fearful about the prospect of more disorder.

“About one week later, he saw about 10, 12 people playing in the park, he ran back and said, ‘Dad, they’re coming again’,” recalls Mr Akhtar.

Another person living in the area and impacted by the disorder that day is John, who moved to Middlesbrough from Ghana and shares a house with three others from the West African country.

More than two months on, the front window of the property was still boarded up.

“I was quite surprised to see that there could be damage, because I was expecting a peaceful demonstration,” he says before sighing and looking at the front of the house.

“Whilst that is not in the original state, for sure that will frustrate me, but I have hope in the police department that once they said it is going to be fixed, it will be fixed,” he adds.

Once the damage is repaired, there are deeper community issues that will linger.

Streets Ahead For Information are a charity who describe themselves as a “one stop shop” for people who live in the area, offering vital services for residents in one of Middlesbrough’s most diverse communities.

Twice a week, they organise a low-cost food shop, which is always in high demand.

Residents line up outside, before filling their baskets with items like eggs, fruit and vegetables, largely costing under £1 each.

The people the charity support are from a range of backgrounds. Some are asylum seekers, others have lived in the area for years.

Many of them still have concerns about the disorder that spilled onto Parliament Road.

One woman from Romania, called Diana, says she was away on holiday at the time, but watched the scenes on TikTok.

Now she has concerns about the place she and her children call home. “I look all the time on my back,” she says.

For Streets Ahead and the operations manager Kim May, the work in the coming weeks and months will be twofold.

The charity is still advising people who had their homes and livelihoods impacted by the riots, but she is hoping the uncomfortable spotlight placed on Middlesbrough will encourage more people to support a voluntary sector working to solve people’s day to day problems, many of which she sees first hand.

“It’s the community issues that are more important. We can fix windows, we can fix cars, we can do that. But fixing people’s state of mind is a completely different thing,” she says.

“We have a lot of mental health issues in our area. We need to get the hospital sorted out. We need to take care of poverty in these areas, we need to take care of health in these areas.

“It’s a much wider range of things than people actually imagined it could ever be. And for some people, it’s about having somebody to see them, to listen to them.”

UK

Police separate anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters across the country

Published

8 hours ago

August 23, 2025

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Police separate anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters across the country

Protesters have gathered across the country as groups demonstrated against asylum seeker housing and were met by anti-racism campaigners.

Demonstrations under the Abolish Asylum System slogan were held in England, Scotland and Wales, including in Bristol, Exeter, Tamworth, Cannock, Aberdeen, Mold, Perth, Nuneaton, Liverpool, Wakefield, Newcastle, Horley and Canary Wharf.

Counter-protests were also organised by campaign group Stand Up to Racism.

In Bristol, mounted police separated the two groups in the Castle Park, with officers scuffling with protesters.

Police kept around 200 anti-immigration protesters draped in English flags away from roughly 50 Stand Up to Racism protesters in Horley, Surrey.

One man, wearing a West Ham United football shirt, was held by police as he yelled: “You’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here, you’re not welcome here” at anti-racism protesters.

Anti-immigration protesters also chanted: “Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, Tommy Robinson” in support of the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.

The anti-racism protesters chanted “say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here” and held signs calling for solidarity and to “stop deportations”.

The Stand Up to Racism protesters were shepherded into a smaller area as they continued to chant: “No hate, no fear, refugees are welcome here”, which was met with “No they’re f****** not” from the other side of the street.

In Perth, protesters gathered outside the Radisson Hotel.

The anti-migration protesters held up signs with slogans such as “Perth is full – empty the hotels” and “get them out”.

Stand Up to Racism Scotland said it had achieved “victory” in Perth, with more than 200 gathering to oppose the Abolish Asylum System demonstration.

In Liverpool, a dispersal order was issued to try and contain the protests.

Saturday’s events come amid continued tension around the use of the hotels for asylum seekers.

Regular protests had been held outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, which started after an asylum seeker housed there was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl on 10 July.

Hadush Gerberslasie Kebatu, 38, was charged with trying to kiss a teenage girl and denies the allegations. He is due to stand trial later this month.

In the wake of those protests, Epping Forest District Council sought and won an interim High Court injunction to stop migrants from being accommodated there – a decision which the government is seeking permission to appeal.

UK

Reform UK’s new immigration plans would’ve been extreme just a few years ago

Published

9 hours ago

August 23, 2025

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Reform UK's new immigration plans would've been extreme just a few years ago

Mass deportations. Prison camps. Quitting the Refugee Convention and the UN Convention on Torture.

A shrug of the shoulders at the idea of the UK sending asylum seekers back to places like Afghanistan or Eritrea, where they could be tortured or executed.

“I’m really sorry, but we can’t be responsible for everything that happens in the whole of the world,” says Nigel Farage.

“Who is our priority?”

The Reform UK leader has been setting out his party’s new plans to address illegal migration in an interview with The Times newspaper – a set of policies, and a use of language, which would surely have been seen as extreme just a few years ago.

Only last autumn the Reform leader repeatedly shied away from the concept of “mass deportations”, describing the idea as “a political impossibility”.

But now he’s embraced Trump-style immigration rhetoric.

It’s not surprising that Reform want to capitalise on the outpouring of public anger over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers. The policy was started by the previous Conservative government, in response to housing shortages – and Labour has failed to make significant progress on its promise to stop it.

But all the major parties have shifted firmly to the right on this issue.

There’s been very little political criticism of the aggressiveness of Farage’s policy suggestions, and the premise that the UK should no longer offer sanctuary to anyone who arrives here illegally.

The Tory response has been to complain that he’s just copying the ideas they didn’t quite get round to implementing before calling the general election.

“Four months late, this big reveal is just recycling many ideas the Conservatives have already announced,” said Chris Philp MP, the shadow home secretary.

“Labour’s border crisis does urgently need to be fixed with tough and radical measures, but only the Conservatives have done – and will continue to do – the detailed work to deliver a credible plan that will actually work in practice.”

Certainly, the ambition to arrest and deport everyone who arrives in a small boat – regardless of whether or not they have legitimate grounds for asylum – has clear echoes of the Tories’ Rwanda policy.

Despite spending £700m on the controversial idea, only four volunteers were ever sent to Kigali before it was cancelled by Sir Keir Starmer, who branded it a gimmick.

Labour have suggested they’ve diverted Home Office resources that were freed up by that decision into processing asylum claims more quickly and increasing deportations.

They’re hoping tougher action against the criminal gangs and the new “one in one out” deal with France will help deter the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats in the first place, currently at record levels.

But rather than offering any defence of the principle of offering asylum to genuine refugees – Labour’s Angela Eagle MP, the border security minister, has also focused on the feasibility of Farage’s policies.

“Nigel Farage is simply plucking numbers out of the air, another pie in the sky policy from a party that will say anything for a headline,” she said.

“We are getting a grip of the broken asylum system. Making sure those with no right to be here are removed or deported.”

Even the Liberal Democrats have taken a similar approach.

“This plan sums up Nigel Farage perfectly, as like him it doesn’t offer any real solutions,” they said.

“Whilst Farage continues to stoke division, we Liberal Democrats are more interested in delivering for our local communities.”

It’s been left to the Refugee Council to defend the principle of asylum.

“After the horrors of the Second World War, Britain and its allies committed to protecting those fleeing persecution,” said CEO Enver Solomon.

“The Refugee Convention was our collective vow of ‘never again’ – a legal framework ensuring that people who come to our country seeking safety get a fair chance to apply for asylum.

“That commitment remains vital today. Whether escaping conflict in Sudan or repression under regimes like the Taliban, people still need protection.

“Most find refuge in neighbouring countries. But some will seek sanctuary in Europe, including Britain.

“We can meet this challenge by upholding a fair, managed system that determines who qualifies for protection and who does not.”

But with Reform leading in the polls, and protests outside hotels across the country – politicians of all stripes are under pressure to respond to public frustration over the issue.

A recent YouGov poll found half of voters now believe immigration over the last ten years has been mostly bad for the country – double the figure just three years ago.

While the government has made some progress in reducing the cost of asylum hotels – down from £8.3m a day in 2023/4 to £5.77m a day in 2024/5 – the overall numbers accommodated in this way have gone up by 8% since Labour took charge, thanks to the surge in new claims.

Sir Keir has previously said he won’t make a promise he can’t keep.

But current efforts to end the use of asylum hotels by 2029 are clearly not working.

That’s a credibility gap Farage is more than ready to exploit.

UK

Three people in a life-threatening condition after ‘arson attack’ at restaurant

Published

12 hours ago

August 23, 2025

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Three people in a life-threatening condition after 'arson attack' at restaurant

Three people are in a life-threatening condition after a suspected arson attack at a restaurant in Ilford, say police.

Five people – three women and two men – were injured in the fire, which broke out shortly after 9pm on Friday at Indian Aroma on Woodford Avenue, Gants Hill.

No arrests have been made.

Hospital porter Edward Thawe, 43, went to help with his son after hearing screams from his nearby home.

He described the scene as “horrible” and “more than scary and the sort of thing that you don’t want to look at twice”.

He said: “I heard screaming and people saying they had called the police.”

He said he saw a woman and a severely burned man who may have been customers.

He said the man’s “whole body was burnt”, including his shirt, but he was still wearing his trousers.

After being treated at the scene by paramedics from the London Ambulance Service, the victims were taken to hospital.

Nine others were able to get out beforehand, London Fire Brigade (LFB) said in a statement.

“The brigade’s control officers received seven calls about the fire and mobilised crews from Ilford, Hainault, Leytonstone and Woodford fire stations to the scene. The fire was extinguished by 10.32pm,” said an LFB spokesperson.

“We understand this incident will cause concern within the community. My team of specialist detectives are working at speed to piece the incident together,” said Detective Chief Inspector Mark Rogers, of the Met’s Central Specialist Crime North unit.

“Locals can expect to see a large police presence in the area. If you have any concerns, please speak to those officers on the ground.”

The London Ambulance Service told Sky News: “We sent resources to the scene, including ambulance crews, an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer and paramedics from our hazardous area response team.

“We treated five people for burns and smoke inhalation. We took two patients to a major trauma centre and three others to local hospitals.”

Health secretary Wes Streeting, who is the MP for Ilford North, posted on X to thank the emergency services for their response to the fire.

He also asked his constituents to “please avoid the area for now”.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the Met via 101, quoting 7559/22AUG. If you wish to remain anonymous, please speak with Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.