Local Cohesion Forum report - Birmingham

A community perspective on the 2024 race riots

It is estimated that Between 30 July and 7 August 2024, 29 anti-immigration (official terminology) demonstrations took place across 27 towns and cities in the UK. This included attacks on mosques and hotels that targeted asylum seekers and signs of Muslim presence in ethnically diverse towns and cities.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) confirmed that as of 30 August 2024, 1280 people had been arrested for their involvement with 796 people charged. It was known that far right activists promoted and attended the riots. This was the most significant disorder in the UK since the 2011 riots in which at least 4000 people were arrested. Within one month of the event and 1994 prosecuted within two months.

For communities affected or targeted, these race riots focussed on expressions of Muslimness, but not always accurately. They were expressions of Islamophobia, and their reporting and official narrative fudged the importance of this in the eyes of many Muslim leaders and activists.

The riots asked deep seated questions of identity and belonging and questioned people’s sense of safety and security. These feelings were particularly heightened in cities like Birmingham with friends and families affected in other parts of the country and were lived in a very real way.

The riots challenged what this meant for community cohesion and for neighbourhoods where difference and diversity lay on the doorstep