In August and September 2022, Leicester, England, saw a period of religious and ethnic tension between predominately British Hindus and British Muslims of South Asian origin. The unrest saw rioting, protest marches, sloganeering and ethnic violence between the two populations. It was also preceded by social media campaigning, misinformation and hate propaganda.
Muslim apprehensions of what they alleged as Hindutva fascism entering their neighbourhoods was evidently the main driver behind the unrest. Community leaders and analysts point to the Indian celebrations following the India–Pakistan 2022 Asia Cup match on 28 August as a catalyst, which saw a reaction from Pakistani fans.
Background
Leicester has a significant and growing South Asian British population. Leicester is known for its ethnic diversity, and is one of three cities in England where the White British population are a minority. Since the end of the Second World War, the city has seen successive waves of migration, with immigrants from the Indian sub-continent arriving in the 1960s, followed by South Asians arriving from Kenya and Uganda in the early 1970s. By 2021, Leicester's population was 33% Muslim and 25% Hindu.
Muslims live in predominantly working class eastern Leicester (LE5 postcode), with particular concentration in the Spinney Hills and North Evington neighbourhoods. Hindus predominantly live in north Leicester (LE4 postcode), mainly in the Belgrave area.
The 'spatial polarization' developed since the 1970s, with the Belgrave area (a former working class neighbourhood) becoming home to affluent Indian-origin East African Hindus.Andrews, A., ‘A history of South Asian migration into Leicester: an essay on Hindu/Muslim segregation’, in Jewson, N. (ed.), Migration Processes and Ethnic Divisions (Leicester: The Centre for Urban History and The Ethnicity Research Centre, University of Leicester, 1995)
Scholar Ayesha Siddiqa points out the growing extremism among British Muslims, owing to several factors such as the welcome given to Muslim clergy as a partner in the Afghan wars and the various geopolitical developments that brought extremist ideologies to congregate in Britain. The growing economic disparity between Hindu and Muslim communities had also been a cause for resentment and anxiety among the Muslims.Ayesha Siddiqa, Leicester fire a result of orthodox Muslim clergy of ’90s vs new communal Hindu migrants, The Print, 24 September 2022. The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that came to power in India, along with prime minister Narendra Modi, is expected to have had high levels of support among the Hindus in the UK. Britain's Muslim press tended to describe the BJP as "fascist" to varying degrees,Jahangir Mohammed, Understanding the global threat of Hindutva ideology and politics, 5Pillars UK, 6 October 2022.Areeb Ullah, Leicester riots: How Hindutva nationalism pushed a city to the brink, Middle East Eye, 23 September 2022. "The RSS, or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, is a paramilitary organisation set up in the early 1920s, modelled on the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini's Blackshirts, and which supports the Hindutva ideology and the establishment of a Hindu Rashtra."Leicester tensions have been simmering for 'months' says city MP, Yahoo! News, 20 September 2022. 'The [Federation of Muslim Organisations] strongly cautioned against using terms “like Hindutva”, which was “strictly related to this fascist extreme minority” because “such terms can demonise an entire community unfairly”.' a language actively adopted by Leicester Muslims.Majid Freeman, What caused the recent community tension in Leicester?, 5Pillars UK, 12 September 2022. "The RSS, or Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (National Volunteers Association), is a core organisation in the Hindutva (Hindu fascist) movement and network. It is widely known to be the parent organisation of India's current ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, or Indian People's Party). It is, without a doubt, a fascist organisation that uses violence to eliminate India's religious minorities and caste oppressed people. It is Islamophobic, anti-Sikh, anti-Christian, anti-woman, and anti-Dalit."Naomi Canton, No Hindutva or RSS extremism involved in Leicester violence: Report, The Times of India, 6 November 2022. 'One influencer with over 800,000 followers posted a video of himself leading a group through Leicester captioned "Muslim patrol in Leicester" and called on Muslims to "defend themselves against Hindu fascism".'Barry Pavier, Hindutva and the Sangh Parivar in Britain, International Socialism, 14 January 2023. "Continuing to use the term “fascism” presents a barrier to understanding how Hindutva operates and what it seeks to do. Moreover, the characterisation of the RSS as fascist tends to be immediately followed by the conclusion that every other expression of Hindutva politics is a direct result of RSS activity. This methodology helped generate the claims that the Leicester violence was a result of RSS activity."
The British party politics is seen to have caused polarisation between the two communities, with Muslims siding with the Labour Party and Hindus siding with the Conservative Party. The 2019 general election was not only a "Brexit and NHS election", but also a "Kashmir election" according to The Guardian columnist Sunny Hundal. This was a reference to the Modi Government's decisive action in the complete integration of Kashmir into India in 2019, and the corresponding backlash in Pakistan. These developments had reactions in British Hindu and Muslim communities.Hundal, , New Statesman, 12 December 2019. Rutgers University's Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), which has investigated the online trends between 2019 and 2022, noted a wide dispersion of anti-Hindu and anti-India slurs and tropes during this period, depicting Hindus as dirty, Islamophobic and barbaric.
Locally in East Leicester, a large batch of Hindu immigrants belonging to Daman and Diu, carrying Portuguese passports, are said to have arrived in Leicester in the years preceding Brexit. They settled in the LE5 postcode area, which was otherwise predominantly Muslim. The celebration of Hindu festivals and public consumption of alcohol by the new arrivals were considered disruptive by Muslims living in the area. Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe stated that friction between the two communities had been "simmering for months".
At least one major incident of communitarian violence has been reported from May, where it was alleged that a Muslim man was surrounded by around 25–30 masked men, and beaten with bats and poles to such an extent that he was hospitalised. The incident was reported to the police, but the Muslim community felt that the police were failing to act, with the result that the perpetrators were still at large and continuing to harass the Muslim community. The Muslim community labelled these perpetrators "Hindutva RSS thugs" and believed that they were from among the recent arrivals from India.Majid Freeman, What caused the recent community tension in Leicester?, 5Pillars UK, 12 September 2022; Roshan Muhammed Salih, 'Hindutva gangs' and anti-Muslim violence in Leicester, 5Pillars, via YouTube, 9 September 2022. According to Majid Freeman, described as a "community activist" by The Guardian and "a key social media influencer" by NCRI, "Muslims had made their presence known in the streets" by August and the "troublemakers had disappeared".
Initial clashes Cricket match brawl
After the 28 August India–Pakistan Asia Cup cricket match, which India won, Indian cricket fans poured onto streets in the Belgrave area to celebrate, waving Indian flags, honking car horns and dancing to dhols. An altercation eventually occurred at the corner of Shaftsbury Avenue and Melton Road. According to a local business owner, "someone anti-India" stamped on an Indian flag, and the Indian fans thought he was a Pakistani and got infuriated. A video of this incident is available and the man is reported to be a Sikh. The altercation developed into a brawl, a video clip of which went viral on social media the next day. The clip shows a group of India fans shouting "Pakistan murdabad" and walking to the clash site. A police officer is seen arresting a man, and another group is seen beating up a man, and ripping off his t-shirt.
The incident eventually led to eight arrests, including one man arrested at the scene for assaulting an emergency worker.
Build-up The following day a Twitter user with handle "tragicBud", whose user description included the phrase "fuck them pajeets" (anti-Indian slur), uploaded the video clip of the brawl, along with an interpretation claiming "Nazi" and "Hindutva" objectives of the participants. This was the beginning of "malicious narratives", as the NCRI researchers described it, interpreting an ordinary cricket match brawl as a "Nazi-like Hindutva" ideology. It led to a steady escalation of tensions in Leicester. A slogan of "death to Muslims" was also alleged to have been raised, but the Leicester police dismissed the claim, not finding any verifiable evidence for it.Leicester Hindu - Muslim violence: 17 arrested in UK; here's what we know so far, The Free Press Journal, 19 September 2022.
The video clip uploaded by "tragicBud" was widely shared on social media networks, amplified by Majid Freeman, Ian Miles Cheong, Sunny Hundal, Pat McGinnes and several British conservative participants. Sunny Hundal's forwarding comment, "extreme Hindutva groups go on the rampage in Leicester", gave journalistic respectability to the anti-Hindutva narrative. The Muslim news site "5Pillars UK" announced that Muslim residents of Leicester were being attacked. British comedian and actor Guz Khan, with 100,000 followers on Twitter, called on "mandem" (UK slang for "gang") to sort out the "Modi weirdos". Other reputed organisations that address Islamophobic incidents also joined in, interpreting the video clip as representing Islamophobia. The original tweet of tragicBud received 2,037 retweets and the video clip 305,000 views.
Further clashes
Between 4–6 September, anti-Hindu attacks began to be reported from Leicester. On 4 September, the date of another India–Pakistan match which Pakistan won, a Hindu home celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi (a Hindu religious festival) was allegedly attacked, eggs were thrown into the house, a Hindu male was attempted to be stabbed, and his aunt was punched in the nose. The next day, there were report of British Pakistani mobs targeting Hindu neighbourhoods, some with weapons, chanting "Modi kutta, Hindustan murdabad" ("Modi dog, Death to India"). Videos circulated of gangs roaming through the streets and police trying to block them. Hindus started feeling scared in their homes and writing to the local MPs for help.
On 5 September, there was a meeting about the incidents attended by over 300 people along with police representatives. After the meeting, a group of Muslims conducted a march through Leicester to show their "presence". It was reported that clashes and stand-offs with the police lasted till 11pm.
On 6 September, Leicester Police were authorised to use dispersal (Sections 34 and 35) and stop-and-search (Section 60) powers.Leicester disorder: Dozens stopped and searched as police granted extra powers, BBC News, 7 September 2022. They continued to patrol the areas, but further disturbances also continued.
By 11 September, 19 people had been arrested for incidents in East Leicester, one of them for threats to kill.East Leicester disorder leads to 27 arrests, BBC News, 16 September 2022.
Social media campaigns