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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Daniel Boffey Chief reporter

Riots and racism: why is the UK burning?

Police vehicles form a barrier in front of large flames and black smoke on a street
Fires burn as protesters stand off with police in Glengormley, north of Belfast. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/AFP/Getty Images

As the people of Glengormley, on the northern edge of Belfast, tidied up and prepared for more violence in the midst of what has been described as a modern-day pogrom, a court 500 miles away in Southampton, on the south coast of England, started to deal with its own outbreak of thuggery.

The trigger for this week’s riots in the Northern Irish capital had been the image of a black assailant who appeared to be stabbing and slashing his supine white victim in the face and neck while shouting in Arabic. The suspect was later revealed to be a refugee from Sudan.

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