Nigel Farage has said that “white lives matter too” after police released disturbing bodycam footage showing officers handcuffing 18-year-old Henry Nowak shortly after he had been stabbed.
The Reform UK leader, who had repeatedly called on Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary to make the footage public, argued that the incident raises serious questions about what he described as unequal treatment by the police.
The footage shows officers approaching Nowak after he was allegedly stabbed five times with a 21cm Sikh ceremonial knife while walking home from a night out in Southampton on December 3 last year.
After being forced to the ground on a driveway, Nowak can be heard telling officers, “I have been stabbed” and “I can’t breathe.” Despite his condition, one officer reportedly responded: “You’ve been stabbed, mate? I don’t think you have.”
Officers then placed Nowak in handcuffs behind his back as he continued asking for help. Meanwhile, Vickrum Digwa, 23, who was sentenced to life imprisonment this week, can be heard repeating claims that Nowak had racially abused him. Officers were also heard asking Digwa whether he had suffered any injuries.
Reacting to the footage, Farage described it as one of the most shocking examples of discrimination he had ever seen. He said police appeared more focused on allegations of racism than on the violent attack that had taken place, adding that the case should serve as a wake-up call and insisting that “white lives matter too.”
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary later acknowledged that officers had been misled by Digwa’s claims that Nowak had launched a racially aggravated attack.
During sentencing, Judge William Mousley KC rejected those allegations, stating that he was satisfied Henry Nowak had made no racist remarks. He noted that Digwa was the only person to make such a claim and said it was completely inconsistent with Nowak’s character.
The case has since sparked comparisons from some commentators and politicians to the public reaction following the death of George Floyd in Minnesota in 2020. Reform UK MP Robert Jenrick argued that Nowak’s death should prompt a similar level of national concern and debate, particularly given the support many British politicians expressed for the Black Lives Matter movement at the time.
