The killing of UK teenager Henry Nowak fuels protests as far-right politicians say the response shows “different policing”

London – Hundreds of protesters clashed with law enforcement in southern England on Tuesday – angry over the killing of 18-year-old Henry Nowak and the way he was treated by police.

Right-wing activists joined the protest, including Tommy Robinson, a British anti-immigration campaigner with a string of criminal convictions.

Nwak, a university student, was stabbed five times by Vickrum Digwa last December after an argument in the city of Southampton.

Digwa was convicted of murder last week and sentenced to life in prison.

Police body camera video shows officers handcuffing Nowak as he lay dying. He could be heard telling them that he had been stabbed, but they did not believe him, and continued to handcuff him while he pleaded that he could not breathe.

Digwa said he was a victim of racial harassment which led to his murder, although the court ruled that he had lied about it.

Nowak's father called his son's treatment by police brutal and degrading.

“With his last words, he told them that he was not breathing, he told them that he had been stabbed,” said the bereaved father. “Henry actually told the police officer that he couldn't breathe nine times.”

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there were serious questions for the police to answer.

“I saw the body camera. It's shocking,” he said. “And I have to say, as the father of a 17-year-old boy, I felt sick.”

Emotions ran high on Tuesday during the protests. Another group of protesters clashed with riot police, throwing rocks and sticks, near the scene, shouting: “I can't breathe.”

A far-right, anti-immigrant British political party seized on the case to spread its message.

One of the leaders of that organization, Nigel Farage of Reform UK group, points to it as evidence of “two-class policing,” the popular claim that racial minorities receive better treatment than white people.

Farage has called for “pure outrage” over the incident, and wants an end to what he says is “white racism” in Britain.

The UK Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, who oversees law enforcement in the country, dismissed the idea that police have different standards in different communities and urged lawmakers to “not let these killings turn communities around.”

Mahmood said he understood that people were shocked by the video of Nowak's murder, and emphasized the government's efforts to reduce knife crime.

He called for calm as the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigates the actions of the officers involved, and warned that “false information and hateful comments” online are making the situation “worse.”

The police who were not involved in the murder received death threats, said Mahmood.

Nowak's father said he did not want his son's death to be “used to create division, hatred or discord.”