UK police have been pelted with bricks and bins as violent protests erupted in the southern city of Southampton on Tuesday, following the release of harrowing bodycam footage showing the arrest of 18-year-old stabbing victim Henry Nowak as he bled to death, falsely accused of racism by his murderer.Sikh man Vickrum Digwa, 23, has been jailed for life with a minimum of 21 years after he was last week found guilty of murder and carrying a knife in public, following a two-week trial in Southampton Crown Court.Digwa, described by prosecutors as obsessed with weapons, stabbed the first-year finance student five times with an eight-inch ceremonial blade as the teen made his way home from a night out with his football team members last December.Bodycam footage showed Mr Nowak repeatedly saying “I’ve been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe” as arriving officers instead sided with his killer, who — along with his assembled family members — falsely claimed he had been racially abused and assaulted.“You’ve been stabbed? Whereabouts? I don’t think you have, mate,” one officer tells a dying Mr Nowak in the footage.‘Two-tier scum’As outrage spread over the officers’ actions — which are now under investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) — far-right figures seized on the case, including firebrand Tommy Robinson, who spoke at a rally in Southampton claiming police treat white British people as “second-rate citizens”.Protesters then marched through the city centre towards the scene of the crime, where police blocked the road. Demonstrators attacked officers with bricks, bottles and bins.More than a thousand protesters had gathered outside the main police station in Southampton on Tuesday evening, chanting “two-tier scum” and “shame on you” and waving British Union Jack and England flags, AFP reported.Other protesters chanted “Henry, Henry” at the riot police blocking the street during the march. One protester wore a t-shirt that said “RIP Henry Nowak” while a minute’s silence was held for Mr Nowak, followed by applause.Robinson told the crowd that “if Henry wasn’t white, he wouldn’t have been handcuffed” and that “as white people, we are treated as second-rate citizens by our own police force”. The far-right figure reportedly told the crowd, “The arresting officer has resigned” and added, “We don’t want him to resign, we want him in prison.”Protesters, some wearing masks, then marched to the St Denys residential area near where the crime took place and attacked a line of riot police, chanting “scum”. A group of around a hundred protesters pulled apart garden fences, threw bricks, flares and chairs, and rolled a flaming bin at police, who used a spray on demonstrators and whacked them with riot shields. American tech tycoon Elon Musk posted on X an offer to fund a private prosecution against the police over their handling of the murder. ‘Completely unacceptable’Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said, “The scenes this evening in Portswood are completely unacceptable”. “The Nowak family made a powerful call to us all yesterday to not let Henry’s death be used to create further division, hatred or tension,” Ms Mahmood wrote on X.“There can be no justification for hijacking this tragedy to stir up violence and disorder. Those responsible can expect to face the full force of the law. I thank the police who have tonight shown great bravery and calm in the face of disgraceful violence directed at them.”Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the bodycam footage was “harrowing” and called the investigation by the IOPC “absolutely right”, acknowledging there are “serious questions for the police to answer”. Ms Mahmood urged people not to allow the murder to “turn communities against one another”, in comments to parliament.Main opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and far-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for changes to police diversity policies. “We’re living in a two-tier culture … where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities,” Mr Farage said.Ms Badenoch accused Mr Farage of “deepening divisions”, but also took aim at so-called “two-tier policing”, in which officers are seen as dealing with ethnic minorities more leniently. ‘I can’t breathe’Speaking after Digwa’s sentencing, Mr Nowak’s father, Mark, told how he would be haunted forever by his son’s murder.He broke down in tears as he continued, “As a father, it is my job to protect my child, and I failed to keep him safe. I was not there when he needed me most. The thought of him lying in the road, scared, bleeding to death, will haunt me forever.”He also branded the way his son was treated as “degrading” and “inhumane”, adding, “Henry did not die with dignity. He did not die with the care he deserved. He lost consciousness before anyone believed him.”The family gave permission for police to release the bodycam footage.Released by Hampshire Police late on Monday night, the three-minute video shows officers arriving at the scene at 11.37pm on December 3.Mr Nowak can be heard pleading “I can’t breathe”, as Digwa’s father holds him on the ground, telling officers the teen had fallen from a fence and hurt himself.Digwa tells the officer “he’s grabbed my brother, he’s took my turban off, started grabbing my hair and stuff like that … I’ve got swelling eye, little bruising”.Officers grab Mr Nowak and drag him across the driveway.“I’ve been stabbed. I’ve been stabbed,” Mr Nowak pleads repeatedly. “I can’t breathe.”“Right, what’s happened to you?” the officer asks.“I’ve been stabbed,” Mr Nowak repeats.“You’ve been stabbed? Whereabouts? I don’t think you have, mate,” the officer says.Police then roll Mr Nowak onto his stomach and two officers handcuff him behind his back as the teen desperately cries “I can’t breathe”.“Put the hand in the cuff, mate,” the officer says, as Mr Nowak is heard gasping for air.He continues to plead “I can’t breathe”.“Where do you think you’ve been stabbed? In the face?” a female officer says.“He hasn’t been stabbed,” one of the Digwas says.“I know, but we have to check, don’t we?” the female officer says.“Please, brother, I can’t breathe,” Mr Nowak says.Those were the 18-year-old’s final words.At this point Mr Nowak appears to lose consciousness.“What’s your name, mate?” the male officer asks again, before reading the unresponsive teen his rights.“At the moment you are under arrest, that’s for assault, so you do not have to say anything that may harm your defence … anything you do say may be given in evidence, all right?” he says.“He’s going to be sick, I think.”The three police officers finally realise Mr Nowak needs medical attention.“Yeah, um we’ve got this male, he’s been beat up. Are we able to get an ambulance, please?” a female officer says over the radio.A second female officer examines Mr Nowak and notes “his pupils aren’t even reacting”, before the video ends.Officers belatedly realised the severity of his injuries and attempted to administer first aid.The student, a keen footballer described by family as a “soft, gentle soul” who “lit up a room”, was pronounced dead at 12.37am.‘I’m a bad man’Snapchat video from the teen’s phone, which emerged during the trial, showed Mr Nowak encountering Digwa and asking if he was a “bad man”.Digwa was heard responding, “I’m a bad man”, before the clip cut out.Digwa claimed in his evidence that he was near his home when he saw Mr Nowak walking towards him looking “drunk”.He claimed the student began racially abusing him and that he feared for his safety as “there had been a lot of attacks on Sikhs in recent months”.No one witnessed the attack, but neighbours called police after hearing Mr Nowak’s cries for help.Digwa filmed the dying teen as he tried to flee over a fence while leaving a trail of blood and shouting, “I’m going to die”.Before police arrived, Digwa’s brother turned up and also called police.The killer’s parents also arrived at the scene. His mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, picked up the knife used in the killing and ran back to stash it in the family home.She was found guilty of assisting an offender.Digwa appeared in court again on Tuesday with his brother, Gurpreet Digwa, 27, and his father, Moga Singh, 52, on weapons offences.Digwa’s family apologised to Nowak’s family for the killing and for bringing the Sikh community into “disrepute”.“We love Vickrum,” the statement said. “We will continue to love him. That love does not stand in opposition to the sorrow we feel for the Nowak family … We ask that this tragedy is not used by anyone to inflame division or hostility towards any community.”Sentencing Digwa, Judge Mousley KC said on Thursday, “In addition to killing Henry and the irreparable harm to those close to him, you have also caused real suffering to others who knew him.“You have brought shame upon your family, your community and your religion.“Your actions have stirred up racial tension in Southampton and across the country which have made many Sikhs worried about their own safety even though they have done absolutely nothing wrong.”Cops ‘deeply sorry’After the verdict, Hampshire Police apologised for arresting Mr Nowak and said it had referred itself to the IOPC.“I am deeply sorry that Henry could not be saved,” deputy chief constable Robert France said in a video statement on Thursday.“I am sorry that in the moments before he lost consciousness, he had been handcuffed and arrested. The facts heard in court should leave no doubt in anyone’s mind who was lying to officers that night and why we didn’t immediately understand what had happened.“During the 999 call, when officers first arrived at the scene, and even when Henry’s condition was deteriorating quickly, his killer continued to divert the blame, obstruct our inquiries, and never admit the serious harm which had been done.”Mr France said officers “responded swiftly to a situation which was confusing and unclear, and within minutes were giving Henry first aid and trying to save his life”.“The horrendous injuries Henry suffered were internal,” he said.“The pathologist evidence at court was clear. Sadly, nothing we could have done that night would have saved him. His wound was difficult to find and had caused a significant amount of internal bleeding.”There were four officers present at the scene at the time of Mr Nowak’s arrest — one of whom has now resigned.A spokesperson for the force said, “Three of the officers are still serving, one officer has resigned. As the IOPC has confirmed, they are all being treated as witnesses, so not subject to any current restrictions.”Sikhs face ‘abuse and hate’In the UK — as in Australia — Sikhs are legally permitted to carry a kirpan knife in public as it is protected under religious exemption laws.A kirpan is a curved, single-edged ceremonial sword or dagger that initiated (Amritdhari) Sikhs are required to wear at all times.Digwa was found to have a small kirpan around his neck that fulfilled his religious obligation. The weapon used in the murder was a much larger blade called a shastar, around 21 centimetres long.A statement issued by the Sikh Federation on behalf of Sikh community organisations said, “The wider Sikh community has unacceptably faced considerable abuse and hate during the trial as many do not understand the law, the significance of the kirpan or the responsibility associated with wearing a kirpan.“The actions of police officers who handcuffed the victim just before he died has not helped and given an opportunity for many to criticise the police, but it has also unnecessarily stirred up community hatred.“We want to make absolutely clear the law only provides fully practising Sikhs with a defence under the law to wear a kirpan for religious reasons.“If a kirpan or a bladed item is used aggressively in an act of violence the defence under the law for a kirpan does not apply and it is deemed an offensive weapon.“We understand in this case the weapon that may have been used was not the normal kirpan worn by fully practising Sikhs.“This nuance is critically important and may not have been explained or understood by those asked to give evidence in this case.” — with AFP and The Sun