to be utterly sick of protests, marches, rallies, and riots

[NameChangeMay2026]

What happened today in Belfast was dreadful. Of course it was.

When Sarah Everard died, there were marches. But a day before she died, an Indian woman Sarah's age was knifed to death in the street in Leicestershire. It was an "honour" killing, I think.

Where was HER lantern on the doorstep of Downing Street? Where was HER march?

My point is, dreadful things happen every day and I am so sick and tired of news items sparking so much public rowdiness. It used to be that the media could report on current events without starting a riot. I know that we have always had riots, but they were the occasional one. And because they were not common, they helped effect change. They were a desperate measure reserved for when nothing else had helped.

Now, together with marches, rallies, and protests, society is constantly disrupted, and I am so, so sick of it. I live in a major city and I can't go anywhere without checking what march, rally, protest, or riot is happening, especially at the weekends. And they are so common that they don't help effect change anymore.

The riots are terrible. Thousands and thousands of pounds' worth of lost property in fires, injured bystanders, police calld away from other duties to attend them. And there are "professional" rabble-rousers who travel to marches, protests, and riots. It's not because they're passionate about a cause. They're just passionate about causing trouble.

I travel for work to major American cities and it's even worse over there. Another day, another riot/protest/march/rally.

They have become a feature of today's society, and I wish they would just stop.

Edit: I actually stay in more because of them. I don't go out of my hotel as much when staying in America, and I don't go to the city centre where I live as much. It's so bad when regular people are put off from walking around city centres because of all these annoying dickheads.

I think it is worse in America, and I'm tired of feeling scared to go out when there, in case I run into an uncontrolled crowd - where the police have guns, and the protestors might, depending on the state.

The burning buildings in Belfast are a disgrace. It's not the owners' fault that this happened.

The government are cagey about the stats but if you just think logically, of course recent immigrants are more likely to experience significant MH problems including being sectioned under the MHA if compared to the general population. Asylum seekers even more so.

It costs something like 500k (I saw this figure recently) when processing asylum claims for 2.5 years. If you had all that money to put into schools and public services and, I don't know, increase carer pay so local people found it cost effective to do it as a job, then it might solve quite a lot.

It's bollocks we need this type of immigrant. Yes, we need higher skilled immigrants. They tend to come via legal routes anyway.

Something to that effect yes! 😂

So why allow in more?

Sorry?

Setting houses alight is better than protesting genocide?

You are correct and anyone coming into the country should be checked for criminal convictions or mental health.

I think mental health is a tricky one as if someone has PTSD or schizophrenia or something then they could be ‘normal’ for a while and then snap.

The medical evidence is all built on white males and so women and anyone non-white are often overlooked or given the wrong treatment/diagnosis.

So I agree that anyone entering the country should be screened for disorders, however this has nothing to do with setting fires and attention to kill children.

The violence from these thugs has actually overshadowed the real issues here and no one’s going to ask the important questions whilst there’s people setting streets on fire and acting like animals.

We do have lots and lots of violent crime and sex crimes which are going up massively among the native and legal immigrant population and not enough prison space

You are right about prison space but violent crime isn't going up. It is 2/3rds lower than in the 90s. It reached it's lowest point around 2010 and then started slowly rising until it peaked around 2022/2023 being about a third higher than in 2010 but still lower than the 90s. The pandemic caused a big temporary jump in DV murders. Probably because women were isolated in their homes with their abusers. Rape is hard to compare because the laws have changed so eg marital rape is a crime and more likely to be reported to police as such. Likewise awareness campaigns around what rape is mean women are more likely to report offences even if the police/CPSare still crap at securing convictions. Shoplifting I think has also increased which though non violent is a blight on people's lives. And also hate crimes/non crime hate incidents but that is likely also due to the laws being new and being recorded as such more than they were. They are also quite subjective.
So there has not been a big dramatic increase in crime although the pandemic complicated stats because it made some crimes go up temporarily and some crimes go down. So any decrease after that could also be normalisation.

They can't express their anger and that's partly why it spills out onto the streets.

Most social media companies ban anyone who expressed their anger - and they can even be arrested for it.

Suppressing the free speech has been a big part of the issue.

How can that be done? When Sudan won’t hold records on the violence nor share it

The application process would have looked at the risks he posed against any evidence such as past criminal history etc. You can’t just say if you come from X country, you can’t come to the UK because in that county there is war and violent crime. So no one from Brazil should be allowed to stay in the UK, or South Africa? Or even America, where you can legally shoot a child who steps on the grass outside your home for trespassing. There is no why to exactly predict human behaviour so mistakes will always be made. We have to look at this through a logical and evidence based lens.

Also worth noting the UK has no legal routes to enter and claim alum and you can’t only claim asylum once you are here.

Another point I’ve seen loads on these threads is why it is often young males claiming asylum. It has always been safer for men to make the often dangerous journey, with the hope that they get her settle and send for the rest of the family. This is not just in cases of asylum but across all types immigration. If there is an able man, he comes first and builds them life for the rest of the family to join .

These aren't vigils foe victims they are protests against immigration.

I cannot believe there are people on this thread defending these rioters.

'they are disillusioned' so bloody what, doesn't give them the right to set people's houses/cars etc on fire.

Ah yes, so sensible and righteous.

It will have been accepted by an asylum caseworker, working under the actual rules and guidance of accepting asylum claims, which is the process, as agreed by the Home Secretary - Suella Braverman it looks like it was then.

You can find the rules, and processes and guidance for caseworkers on gov.uk and you can look at previous versions, as this will probably have been updated since.

I am sure the decision is all being scrutinised letter by letter, and comma by comma, as there will be questions asked about this - you could wait for the answers I guess - but that may include facts.

I am CRYING, even I knew that somebody called Mág Tighearnán is v unlikely to be a migrant in Ireland 😂😂😂😂😂

Agreed that the violence is appalling.

But I suspect the reason for it is because people are fed up with an establishment (social media, mainstream media and politicians) silencing them, ignoring them and calling them stupid whenever they try to express their concerns.

How can they share something they haven’t got? Sudan incidentally is in the depths of civil war - record keeping is unlikely to be high on its priority list.

Therr were marches for Sarah because she was abducted and murdered by a serving police officer so of course it made headlines. Murder seems so common nowadays that many are only reported on local news platforms. Did the Indian lady's family and community have a march after her death?

Its not nonsense that British medical graduates cannot get jobs.

Sorry I paused and laughed at this too.

So let’s not let in any ‘asylum seekers’ as we have fuck all idea who they are in a country dominated by militants?

And what is that mistrust based on? The shit being spouted by far right politicians that there is two tier justice which is not the case.

Unless you're inciting violence or being out and out racist, then why what exactly would you be banned from social media for, what crime would you be arrested for?
You can post about it on social media or surely Mumsnet would have already banned you? So how is your free speech being suppressed?

Yep exactly. There are no checks, it’s not possible.

I wonder if this lot will turn on the victim as fast as they did Henry Nowak, knowing that the victim isn’t Irish.

I agree the riots are an unnecessary response and for the most part caused by agitators rather than peaceful demonstrators trying to make a point. Unfortunately though, whilst the continued attacks by people who are either seeking asylum or yet to be processed or those who just want to promote their own radical ideology continue, they are unlikely to stop