'It still feels scary and unsafe out there': Women of colour hit hardest by far-right riots in the UK

All 15-year-old Husna* had wanted was to go to the local shop to buy some milk for her mother. 

It was Sunday, August 4, 2024, and they were staying with family in Bristol so that her mother could help care for her aunt, who had just given birth.

Husna's mother sent her 13-year-old brother with her, believing they would be safe together.

There had been clashes in Bristol city centre the day before between far-right rioters and anti-racism protesters, but by the end of Saturday night, they had petered out.

After grabbing a bottle of milk and some snacks, Husna and her brother hurried back to their aunt’s house. They noticed some rowdy white men and her brother told her to pull her hoodie over her hijab, but it was too late. They had seen Husna’s abaya.

“All of a sudden, there’s a group of grown men walking towards us, shouting slurs and throwing rocks,” Husna tells The New Arab. “They were calling us P**is and terrorists.”

A bystander came to Husna and her brother’s aid, trying his best to shield them and help them escape. Husna says the men continued to approach and shove them.

“My brother tried to get me out of their way, and this grown man grabbed me and started pulling me. He grabbed my hood, and my hijab came off.”

Husna, her brother, and the English man who had come to their help managed to go back to the shop, where Husna called her uncle. They then called the police, who told them that despite the fact there was a witness, they did not have enough evidence to arrest the attackers and press charges.

The far-right riots that spread like wildfire

Husna is just one of scores of Muslim, Black, Asian, and ethnic minority people who have been attacked or personally affected by far-right riots that have spread like wildfire across British towns and cities in the last 12 days.

This unrest followed misinformation spread online by far-right figures about the faith and immigration status of 17-year-old Alex Rudakubana, who is accused of fatally stabbing three children in Southport and injuring a dozen more on July 29.

On August 8, the Muslim Census released the results of a survey showing that 92% of Muslim respondents feel less safe living in Britain since the onset of the recent far-right riots. 

Additionally, 1 in 6 respondents reported having personally experienced a racist or Islamophobic attack in the past week.

Decades of unbroken Islamophobia

French-Algerian engineer Yasmina was at the counter-protest in Bristol city centre last Saturday.

“The far-right rioters were shouting and screaming. We were behind the police, so we were safe,” she explains.

“The police were protecting both sides of the protest. There was quite a big group protesting against them [the rioters], which was quite nice to see and which gives you some hope when you feel isolated.”

Yasmina has long been accustomed to racism and Islamophobia, which she encountered regularly while growing up in France.

This discrimination manifested in various forms, including difficulties finding a job or securing an apartment, as well as experiencing microaggressions from university lecturers and workplace colleagues. While she did not face physical violence on the streets, these more subtle forms of bias were a pervasive part of her life.

Ten years ago, she moved to Slovakia for work and experienced racial violence for the first time in her life when anti-migrant protesters realised she was a foreigner and started pushing her.

After living in Bristol for eight years with relatively few issues, she never imagined she would be experiencing racism and Islamophobia for a third time.

The current far-right violence has made Yasmina re-evaluate her situation here.

“My friends and I have been saying, ‘Where can we go? Where will we actually be safe?’ I'm like, should I go to a Muslim country? But then I'm like, which country can I call home? Because I'm fairly Western, and I was born and grew up in Europe.”

For Gen Z-ers, this will be a frightening introduction to far-right violence and thuggery. However, for older generations — such as millennials who lived through the aftermath of 9/11 — this is just the latest in a series of targeted anti-Black, anti-Muslim, and anti-Asian attacks.

Freelance journalist and nature conservation advisor Nora Wallaya grew up in Southampton, and her family was the first Arab family on their street. She spoke to The New Arab on Wednesday, August 7, just before more far-right protests were scheduled.

With evident trepidation, she mentioned planning to stay indoors that evening. The recent riots have been deeply re-traumatising for her and her family, who have long faced Islamophobia in their southern coastal city.

She recalled a particularly harrowing experience from Christmas 1995, when her mother briefly left to walk a family friend home, leaving Nora and her siblings to endure a terrifying racist attack in their own home.

“There was a knock at the door, and we were used to seeing Christmas carolers, so my sisters and I opened the door excitedly, thinking that they were carolers. The second we opened the door, we saw anywhere between five and ten white youths who started screaming at us, calling us P**is, trying to force the door open,” Nora recalls.

She adds, “It was awful. We were screaming, trying to force the door shut. These youths were trying to break in, and we managed to close the door in the end. I have no idea how we did because we were just little girls. It was absolutely horrific.”

Law firms among those targeted

Lawrencia & Co Solicitors in Tamworth was one of around 40 law firms and refugee centres on a leaked blacklist that far-right riot organisers said they planned to attack on August 7.

Lawrencia, a qualified UK Solicitor, tells The New Arab that it came as a shock when she saw her firm on the list on Monday, particularly as she says she does not take on many asylum cases.

“We cleared the office of all physical files; everything was cleared out of the place, and we continued on Tuesday,” she says.

She adds, “Then we contacted the police. They came to have a look around the place; it was a bit slow at the beginning. But on Tuesday, things actually started kicking in. The fire service, the police, the local council, and the MPs, everyone got involved. The Law Society was very helpful. They put measures in place to ensure that nothing happens to the property.”

On Wednesday, Lawrencia and her team worked from a secure location while the police stood guard outside their offices.

That evening, she was on edge, but fortunately, the protests didn’t come close to her premises — just a few onlookers who seemed more interested in witnessing the event than participating.

Lawrencia attributes the lack of incidents to divine intervention. However, she did receive phone calls from far-right individuals pretending to be new clients.

“The very first person who called, I thought was a genuine client. They said, ‘I have an immigration problem. Can I book an appointment and see you now?’ I replied, ‘Unfortunately, because of the far-right riots, we are not taking physical appointments. But I can give you advice over the phone.’

He then said, ‘Oh, you’re not a native,’ and I asked, ‘What do you mean?’ He replied, ‘You weren’t born here.’ I said, ‘Yes, I wasn't born here, and I don't claim to be. Why are you saying this?’ He then said, ‘Oh, so you are coming to the country, and you are helping others to also come into the country.’ At that point, I realised he was one of them, and I cut the line.”

Women of colour stand strong

Lawrencia, Yasmina, and Nora have been heartened by the sight of tens of thousands of people peacefully taking to the streets in solidarity with Muslim, Black, Asian, and ethnic minority communities.

While they believe that these anti-racism protests were a significant blow to the far-right and hope they signal the beginning of the end of the riots, they plan to continue taking precautions over the next couple of weeks.

As Muslim, Black, Asian, and ethnic minority women find themselves in a renewed state of hyper-vigilance, there are people in Britain rising to make a difference and share their services for free. One of them is West Yorkshire-based self-defence instructor Sanaa Khan.

In response to the riots, Sanaa is going to be running free ladies-only self-defence classes in Leeds on Sundays. She tells The New Arab that even though no one explicitly said it was because of the riots, it is obvious because her phone has been exploding with inquiries since she first announced her class on August 7.

“For me, self-defence isn't there to say to people, ‘Go out and fight back.’ It’s that if God forbid, you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, you can get out of the situation as quickly as possible,” she says.

“The first thing is to run, and if you can't run because you're caught in a situation or someone has hold of you, how do you get someone off you? How do you get out of the situation and then exit? It can be quite technical, and there are certain ways you can use your body to manoeuvre the attacker off you. Those are the skills I am going to be teaching.”

*Name changed upon request

Yousra Samir Imran is a British Egyptian writer and author based in Yorkshire. She is the author of Hijab and Red Lipstick, published by Hashtag Press

Follow her on X: @UNDERYOURABAYA