Yesterday, a horde of far-right racists besieged, attacked and tried to burn down a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham. A mob chanted “burn it” and “set it on fire” as they pushed a flaming bin through a shattered door at the base of the building. Terrified asylum seekers looked down through broken windows upon a crowd calling for their deaths. Similar scenes played out later that day at a hotel in Tamworth.
These events made up just a fraction of what is probably the worst week of far-right violence since the second world war. With no central organiser or single group behind this wave of hate, it reflects the nature of the contemporary far right, where trouble on our streets is planned and encouraged by vast decentralised networks of activists online. But while the role of the far right is fundamental, this racist violence has emerged out of an existing climate of prejudice stoked by more mainstream actors.
