As anti-racism protests grow, Singaporeans emerge from riot-hit UK with fear and hope

SINGAPORE – As anti-racism demonstrators swarmed the streets of Britain and planned far-right rallies were abandoned, Singaporean Ayuni Hassan stepped tentatively out of her London flat on Aug 10.

It was her first foray outside in a week. “We ran out of groceries,” the 30-year-old podiatrist said.

Ms Ayuni, who wears the hijab, had been “sheltering in place” at home since far-right riots erupted in parts of Britain in early August, alarmed by talk of thugs spitting at and ripping off the headscarves of Muslim women.

But the mobs, fires and nativist slogans that flared across dozens of English towns and cities in the first week of the month were overtaken by anti-racism protests by the second week.

At times verging on carnival-like, with singing and dancing, the counter-protests drew thousands of people all over England – from Newcastle to London and Bristol – even as the director of public prosecutions warned of 10-year prison sentences for rioters.

For Ms Ayuni, the episode has ended on a note of hope.

“It’s proof that the good people outnumber the bad,” said Ms Ayuni, who has since reclaimed full freedom of movement.

Sheffield resident Natalie Chan is a little more uncertain about the climate.

“I thought it was more of a vocal minority at first, but after the violence in Rotherham, I think there’s a lot of hate brewing,” she said.

The 27-year-old doctor lives 20 minutes away from the town of Rotherham which, on Aug 4, saw 700 rioters torch an asylum seeker hotel and clash with police.

“To be honest, I’ve never had a problem with people in Rotherham. I’ve worked in the general hospital there,” she said, but the violence exposed an undertow of nastiness.

That day, Ms Chan wondered for the first time if she would be safe in the city she had lived in for eight years.

“The nature of my work tends to protect me from being the target of such outbursts, but when you’re out on the streets, people aren’t going to care whether you’re a healthcare worker,” she said.

London-based theatre practitioner Faizal Abdullah had been away on holiday at the time but recalled the sobering moment his neighbourhood mosque in Harrow appeared on a far-right “hit list” of a country-wide campaign on Aug 7.

“In that sense, it was very real,” said the 40-year-old writer of the lecture-performance Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? (Who Took My Malay Away?).

Police were activated, and the community rallied to surround the mosque on the day, he added. The xenophobes did not turn up, and the purported nationwide assault never materialised.

The unrest had at least cast the spotlight on anti-immigration vitriol, he said. “As long as we are addressing the problem head-on, speaking about it and acknowledging it, I think we will be fine,” he added.

“There are more people interested in doing good than bad, so it’s going to be okay. Not perfect but okay.”

Still, in the aftermath of the unrest, he has not ruled out buying pepper spray for his wife – who dons the headscarf – for protection.

Trips out of London to other parts of England are also off the table for now, he added.

The cosmopolitan English capital has been relatively insulated from the unrest that spiked in the north, London-based Singaporeans told The Straits Times.

Other than being a little more alert when he is outdoors, it has been business as usual for 27-year-old software engineer Arjun Agrawal, a London resident.

He said that in his nearly three years in London, he had never experienced any nativist aggression.

“It’s a loud minority acting up; this is not the opinion of the majority,” he added.

For 22-year-old London-based student Mithalina Taib, the effects have been more psychological.

“I’m not visibly Muslim to the people here so personally, I feel safe,” she said. “But I worry about my hijabi friends.

“Some information passed around in my circles, like what to do in the event of an acid attack, is something that only Muslim women have to go through right now.

“That’s been on my mind.”

More than 1,000 people, some as young as 13, have been arrested in connection with the riots, according to media reports.

The riots have been dubbed the worst outbreak of civil disorder since 2011 and were sparked by misinformation online about the killer in the Southport stabbings of July 29 that left three children dead.

He was wrongly said to be a Muslim asylum seeker who had arrived in Britain by boat.

The suspect, Axel Rudakubana, 17, was born in Cardiff. He has been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.