Protestors gathered outside a police station for a peaceful vigil to mark the killing of 18-year-old Henry Nowak.
A small crowd of people congregated outside Portswood Police Station for speeches, songs made in Henry’s honour, and a 3-minute silence.
Kneeling in the street, mirroring a protest sparked by the killing of George Floyd, people shouted ‘racist police, off our streets’.
It comes after protests erupted in Southampton that saw 14 people charged with violent disorder.
Bricks, fence panels, industrial bins, chairs, and traffic cones were thrown at police officers as unrest continued into the night.
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The violent protests followed the sentencing of Vickrum Digwa for the murder of Henry Nowak, after police wrongfully arrested him for racism.
Before the vigil began, a woman addressed the protestors and asked people not to turn violent.
She said: ‘I must stress we are not here for trouble. You had your day. That day is gone. If you’re here for trouble, leave now. That’s not what we’re here for.’
A father asked the crowd to put their hands up if they ‘don’t trust our government right now’, many people raised their hands.
He added: ‘That’s my message to the government. We don’t trust you one bit’.
A woman named Mandy told the crowd: ‘To watch that video was one of the most awful things to see, that someone’s child was treated that way. He was treated like a piece of meat like it didn’t matter.’
She added: ‘This police force needs total upheaval. Do not keep gaslighting us Keir Starmer. We see you for what you really are.’
She ended the speech with ‘Keir Starmer, you’re a f***ing w***er’, which the crowd responded with the same chant.
Attacks on Sikhs have taken place ‘up and down the country’ every day since Vickrum Digwa was sentenced.
Dabinderjit Singh, a senior executive at the Sikh Federation which promotes Sikh issues, made the comments at a march held to commemorate the 42nd anniversary of the storming of the Golden Temple in India’s Amritsar which saw hundreds of people killed.
The event drew thousands of Sikhs to the capital in the wake of violent protests in reaction to the murder of Mr Nowak, who was stabbed by Digwa in Southampton using a ceremonial knife prosecutors said he carried as part of his Sikh religion.
Mr Singh said there have been daily attacks on Sikhs since Digwa was jailed for the crime on Monday, adding it ‘brings home’ the violence faced by Sikhs at the Golden Temple massacre in 1984.
He said: ‘What happened since last Monday, which brings home what happened 42 years ago, is that when that bodycam footage came out, there was real anger.
‘We understand that – we were just as angry with the police officers, and obviously Digwa, because he’s a murderer, (and) those lies he told, but unfortunately, every single day since Monday, Sikhs up and down the country have been assaulted.
‘Children, men, women, pensioners, doctors, people going shopping, people walking in the park.
‘One person went to the gym, and he was told, “We’re going to hang you by your turban”.
‘What if somebody gets killed?’