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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Josh Halliday North of England editor

Hatred of police not racism motivated children in English riots, report finds

Police officers near a burning vehicle at night
A police car on fire in Hartlepool amid disorder two days after the Southport attack last July. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

A deep distrust of the police and a lack of youth opportunities fuelled the involvement of hundreds of “disempowered” children in last year’s riots across England, a report has found.

Dame Rachel de Souza, the children’s commissioner for England, said young people were not primarily motivated by “far-right, anti-immigration or racist views” or by online misinformation, contrary to what she called the “prevailing narrative”.

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