SOUTHAMPTON – Protesters chanted ‘I can’t breathe’ outside Southampton Central Police Station on Tuesday night as more than 1 000 took to the streets over the arrest of murdered teenager Henry Nowak.
Demonstrators descended upon the station just before 6pm holding Union Jack flags and banners reading ‘Save our kids’ – while others lobbed wheelie bins, flairs and beer cans at riot squad officers as the scene erupted into chaos.
It came one day after police bodycam footage emerged of innocent Nowak (18) being arrested by police as he repeatedly told them ‘I can’t breathe’, having just been stabbed six times by ‘knife-obsessed’ Sikh stranger, Vickrum Digwa.
Digwa (23) did not know the teenager before attacking him, but lied to the first officers on the scene, claiming Nowak shouted racist abuse, punched him and knocked off his turban. The injured student was then arrested as he lay dying on the ground, drowning in his own blood. He pleaded with police to call an ambulance before being ordered to place his hands in the cuffs, his body faced down on the driveway.
The teen told them four times, ‘I’ve been stabbed’, to which one male officer replied, ‘I don’t think you have mate’.
He died shortly afterwards.
Footage of the arrest, released on Monday night, sparked furious backlash across the country, with huge crowds of protesters gathered in Southampton on Tuesday evening, many violently clashing with riot police.
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