Six more people have been charged with violent disorder at a protest over the stabbing death of university student Henry Novak, British police said Saturday.
Novak, 18, died in December in the southern English city of Southampton after being stabbed with a ceremonial Sikh dagger by 23-year-old Vikram Digva, himself a Sikh.
DeGava falsely told police that he had been the victim of a racist attack by Novak, whom officers initially handcuffed and treated as a suspect before attending to his injuries and trying to revive him.
DeGava was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison this week, but the case has attracted anti-immigration activists and far-right politicians who claim it is proof that the justice system is biased against white people like Novak.
On Tuesday, some of the hundreds attending a protest in Southampton attacked police with chairs, cans, stones and pyrotechnics – despite appeals from Nowak’s family not to cause division and not to use the case “to cause disturbance”.
A total of 11 people have now been charged with disorderly conduct, with some appearing at Southampton Magistrates Court on Saturday morning, police said.
UK: Starmer condemns Vance’s intervention
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the street violence “outrageous and completely unacceptable”.
On Friday, his office also condemned comments by US Vice President J.D. Vance, who blamed the United Kingdom’s immigration policy for Novak’s death.
In a statement, Starmer’s office criticized those who are “trying to interfere with our democracy and incite division in our streets.”
Edited by: Jennifer Cimino Gonzalez