I'm so fucking angry. My poor neighbour daren't go to work because of the thugs.

[alrightluv]

Just been talking to my neighbour. He and his family are Nigerian. They haven't been here that long. Both work. They have small dcs.
He's had to take today off work as he works in a town that's been targeted and he's scared to travel.

I'm in tears I'm so angry. Those bastards wouldn't know how to fucking spell work. Luckily I got inside before I broke down. Dh is also teary. They're the loveliest family. I'm genuinely scared for my African neighbours. There's a lot of families moved here from the south because of a housing shortage. All of them that I've met are decent lovely people. Wish I could say the same for a lot of people who are from here.

We're broken aren't we? What the fuck is to be done?

I would be very scared from what I have seen of the recent riots here in England, with people shouting and throwing fire bombs. They aren't all teenagers by any means but youngish men with a lot of angry energy. I certainly wouldn't feel safe if they came to where I live.

I didn't see many teenagers at the far right protest in Leeds. Some young men and a lot of middle aged men and women.

Definitely thugs of all ages. And some taking their dcs 🤬

@alrightluv where are you seeing reports re Durham?

What a fine example they set to their children! Sheesh. They are trying to raise the next generation of mindless thugs I suppose.

This is the most recent news about Durham which I could find.

https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/special-powers-place-police-following-29688226

I assume you’re not a POC?

For POC the threat of getting racially abused, or attacked is very real or at the very least being intimidated.

Boozed up aggressive people fuelled by hate and alcohol, mostly men, chanting about England for the English (meaning white) and foreigners go home etc is deeply disturbing and even many white people would understandably be scared

There is ample footage on social media showing all this.

Oh and of course the fact of them setting hotels with asylum seekers in them on fire.

And they are definitely not mostly teenagers, mainly 25+.

https://www.belfastlive.co.uk/news/belfast-news/belfast-riots-attackers-stamp-mans-29684512

Hope he survives.

I'm not a POC. But I'm only half English and I have the accent of another European country.

This is nothing new to me.

I've been told to fuck off home loads of times before these riots.

England has always been like this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp9rrepr3n8o

The former First Minister of Scotland doesn’t seem to think Scotland is a safe place for him and his family and is questioning leaving Scotland

I saw the police officer being sprayed with a fire hydrant on TV news. It was awful. The police just stood there with their riot shields. The cost of all this additional policing must be astronomical. I know some police have had leave cancelled. I think there will be more riots this week too. I worry where it will end and someone will get killed.

You are far less of a target. For example in middlesborough the idiots were checking cars to see if the driver/passengers were white.

In Hull they seen some brown men in a car and attacked them because there were P in the car.

Some of us can’t just get away with not opening our mouth. These people see us as a target and hate us on sight. It’s not comparable. Some of the far right are even working with partners in or from European countries, they see non-white and Muslim immigrants as the main evil.

um…yeah - England has a long-standing racism problem but let’s be real it doesn’t manifest to this extreme this every day 😵‍💫

Huge drunk crowds gathering and travelling hundreds of miles to places they’ve never been solely for the purpose of intimidating and attacking POC, throwing firebombs in hotels where families are and destroying libraries and looting stores in massive groups and having daily stand offs with riot police.

Not sure what point you’re trying to make by downplaying or minimising these race riots?

But just to be clear it’s very frightening to a lot of POC including those who have lived here their whole life and they have legitimate reason to worry their safety is under threat.

ETA: I may be meeting up with my white Canadian friend later this week, who has barely lived here long. The sad irony that she pointed out is that she is statistically far less likely to get any hassle than me who is actually British.

I don't mean to downplay or minimise the race riots.

I've just lived through a lot of riots already. And I'm completely desensitised to riots now. They are just a bunch of idiots.

I was living in Dublin for work when there were loads of anti immigration riots recently. It was just a load of idiots marching ranting looting and fighting.

I'm just desensitised to it. I wouldn't let those idiots stop me going about my day.

Again I'm just speaking for myself , I just think they're a bunch of idiots and I wouldn't let them scare me.

this is my opinion .

I do not claim to speak for how other people may feel about the riots, including POC. And POC all probably have different opinions on what's happening too. We are all individual people. Some of them may be frightened. Some may think the rioters are idiots.

It’s possible to think the rioters are both idiots and be frightened btw. Not mutually exclusive. Stupid people can be very dangerous as we are seeing here this week.

I don’t know much about the riots in Dublin but I know in Belfast the rioters have seriously harmed POC and destroyed POC owned businesses unfortunately :/

Yes of course it goes without saying - people will respond differently depending on their personality, past experiences and their situation eg. Are they living super close to where rioters are happening? Do they live alone? Do they have kids?

And just to clarify I’m not saying everyone has to be scared, but my main point is there IS legitimate reason to be afraid, especially if you’re a POC and / or a Muslim hijab wearing women.

These violent drunks are according for the news ranging from 14 to 69 so far, but definitely not mostly a bunch of teens. They are mostly hate filled dangerous (and idiotic) adult men who have proven to be a risk to our safety.

@Abigail47 They can be both idiots and cowards. However, it is a moot point when the mob can easily set their target on you purely on how you look, which you cannot disguise or try to camouflage. It is not the same degree of hostility.

We're not trying to invalidate your experience but your remarks are simply not helpful.

Yes I can understand that people may be afraid.

I wonder how the far right/nationalism has gotten so big around Europe this year.

They say that a lot of the far rights groups around Europe are connected on social media, and they cheer each other on.

Incidentally, when the immigration riots started in Ireland, I saw a Facebook page . It was called something similar to
'Ireland says no'.

It meant 'Ireland says no to foreigners'.

I used to go on there and challenge some of the main posters.

The riots in irekand started after an irish woman was murdered by a non irish man.

The people on that facebook page would write "foreigners are coming over here murdering our innocent Irish women"

And I would write "but haven't there been loads of cases of irish men murdering irish women".

And they would concede that there were.

I remember one woman wrote "we have our own bad guys we don't need more here from abroad"!

Anyway you can't really reason with these people. They get fired up and blame everything on the foreigners

Helpful to who?

I wasn't trying to be helpful to anyone. As I'm sure neither are you.

This is not a forum to help anyone. This is a discussion forum where we are all entitled to write our thoughts and experiences.

Am I not allowed to post an opinion because I'm white?

How come you didn't know much about the riots in Dublin?

It's the country right beside you.

And there were loads of riots recently

Do you see how different it might feel if you personally were a target of a mob?

Do you understand that your feelings or opinions about a mob have no relevance whatsoever to the feelings of the mob about you?

The opinion of the mob about you is all that matters when it comes to your chance of remaining safe

Your post doesn't make any sense though.

I said "I think they're a bunch of idiots".

That's my opinion. Which im entitled to.

I never said once anywhere , that what I think is going to be the same as what people of colur think. Or that my experience would be the same as theirs.

Jesus I got attacked for saying that the rioters are idiots.

You'd think I called them amazing human beings.

People on here just attack people for the sake of it these days.

Sorry I called the rioters idiots.

Do you want me to call them 'amazing people' instead?

My friends son is scared to go to the library in town because of these lunatics.
Shameful and disgraceful.

They WILL NOT WIN.

Utterly vile. So many of the people who looked after me in the hospital when I had my c section were from other countries, or BAME. There was a really funny Spanish lady surgeon, the anaesthetist was an Asian man, the lady helping me stay still while he did the spinal was British and probably mixed race. Then there were the nurses and midwives looking after me and my son from all over the place. I don't understand this. I'm poor, white and working class. I would never stoop to such behaviour.

Edited to add, I hope none of them feel so unsafe they don't want to go to work, because that would be tragic.

@Abigail47 I actually want to be helpful to those people who feel unsafe and nervous about going on their every day life just because they look different. First step is to validate and support how they feel, instead of telling them is stop being sensitive and just get on with it.

This is actually a forum to help people. Shame you can't see it that way. There's strength in number.

I genuinely think you are missing the point here. The skin colour matters greatly in this kind of race riot. Your opinions matter in helping the minorities understand their feeling and well-being is equally important. Can you seriously not see that?

my mistake! I hadn’t seen this post before my one above and it’s too late to edit. Please disregard my comments about ignoring all my points.

The riots in irekand started after an irish woman was murdered by a non irish man

That’s awful, yikes. And absolutely ridiculous because as you say Irish men murder Irish women all the time. I will read more into the Dublin riots when I have the stomach to. I did remembering hear some discontent now and again via Twitter about Ireland being “swamped” etc but I didn’t realise it was that bad. It fills me with dread the more I learn about the uptick in far right activity across Europe .

Yes, I think you’re correct - the far right extremists in European countries are all connected, I’m sure Tommy Robinson is busy connecting with the ones in Spain and surrounding countries . Even the American ones are somewhat linked to the wider movement.

Anyway perhaps earlier it was crossed wires but I’m glad you can understand where we are coming from regarding (some) POC being scared 🙏🏾