Written evidence submitted by Cllr Minesh Parekh (SDR0014)

1) What was the nature and extent of disorder in July and August 2024, including:

• What proportion of events following the Southport attack constituted peaceful protest compared to violent disorder?
• To what extent did violent disorder in July and August 2024 arise from, or occur during, otherwise peaceful protests?

In South Yorkshire, where I live, there was a clear divide between violent disorder and peaceful counter protests. In the immediate aftermath, racists sought to exploit the tragedy of the Southport attack by targeting minority communities and trying to provoke violence. In Rotherham, as is well known, fascists attempted to burn down a hotel holding people seeking asylum while they were inside the burning, and did succeed in causing a fire. In Sheffield, smaller numbers of far-right provocateurs tried to initiate fights with counter protesters and police, including walking up to and shouting in people’s faces and squaring up to people walking past and present, seeking to provoke confrontation.

It is important to remember that protesting outside of a building housing vulnerable people is never a neutral or peaceful act – the opposition shown by those who turned up to the hotel in Rotherham was itself hostile, to tell people seeking sanctuary that they were not welcome. I therefore do not reconsider the emphasis of the question in asking to what extent the ’violent disorder… [arose] from… otherwise peaceful protests’; peaceful protests do not target marginalised communities, do not seek to intimidate; do not encourage arson and attempted murder. The entire protest was – from the beginning – charged with violent intent towards those inside.

Counter protests, however, were ultimately peaceful affairs. There was one such event held outside an immigration solicitors’ office that was on a list supposedly circulated by far-right militants. At that event, hundreds of counter protesters arrived in a jovial and friendly manner, chanting support for Muslims and migrants, and to stop any opportunistic protesters from attacking the organisation. In the end, either no protesters showed up or they decided better of intended criminal damage due to the presence of the crowd.

2) How did police forces respond to disorder in July and August 2024, including:

• What strategies did police forces employ to respond, and on what basis?
• How did these strategies compare to those used in other recent cases of large-scale disorder?
• How prepared were police forces to respond to the riots and disorder?
• To what extent did police forces apply lessons from policing previous large-scale, violent and/or disruptive protests?
• How effectively were police forces able to share intelligence during and after the disorder, including through digital platforms?

The police had an oversized presence in Sheffield on the day of the Rotherham riot and arson attempt, which would suggest their information was poorly gathered and misunderestimated the risk posed to people in the asylum hotel.

There were police officers present at counter protests in Sheffield wearing the far-right aligned “thin blue line” patches, which have been linked to white supremacist organisations and emerged in the aftermath of racist murders by police in the US. This is clearly concerning as it exposes potential sympathies of police to the far-right protesters.

There were attempts to restrict and kettle counter protesters in Sheffield – seeking to hold and close-off areas off from Barkers’ Pool – which considering how few police officers were in Rotherham to prevent the horrific attacks, suggests there was an overemphasis on policing peaceful counter protests compared to large mobilisations of neo-Nazis. This warrants a specific review. There was similarly a moment at which all the police in Sheffield rushed off – literally started running to their vans – at once, presumably then being called out to Rotherham or elsewhere, but which provoked panic amongst the counter protesters in Sheffield, who were concerned more hostile policing methods may be employed.

3) How significant a resource burden did policing the disorder place on forces?

• How effective was collaboration and the provision of mutual aid between forces in meeting this burden?
• What impact did abstractions (the temporary redeployment of police officers from their neighbourhood or role to respond to the disorder) have on wider policing resources such as community policing?

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4) What challenges, if any, did the political focus on the disorder place on policing in general, and the decisions of individual officers?

Speaking specifically to the far-right “thin blue line” badges spotted worn by police officers at the Sheffield counter protests, the sympathies individual officers have for the far-right and over emphasis placed on policing counter protesters warrants further consideration. It is hard for communities – particularly those already marginalised in society and subjected to, as examples, disproportionate levels of Stop and Search – to trust that increased police presence is conducive to public safety; when combined with officers wearing symbols with white supremacist connotations this only compounds that difficulty.

Police officers should be drawn from the diversity of our communities, and shouldn’t wear politically charged symbols.

Dec 2024