In this new piece for IRR, he writes of a place alive with culture, struggle and solidarity. Handsworth isn’t a failure of integration - it’s the sound of belonging being remade.

IRR Deputy Director Riz Hussain was part of a panel session discussing building strategies we need to stand firm against racism and the far right, and to organise for justice and unity.

Read the full article here:

irr.org.uk/article/equa...

Lead researcher Dr Jon Burnett says:

‘This is a continuation of Britain’s long history and tradition of criminalising anti-racist action emerging organically from communities. The court room has been reconfigured as a site of state racism through the guise of neutrality.’

This analysis indicates how the majority of those prosecuted for responding to the riots were Muslim men in their 20s and 30s; how most were convicted of violent disorder; and it shows that the court room views them as ‘equally culpable’ for the violence.

3) A man who was part of a group linked arms and made a cordon outside a building used to accommodate asylum seekers. After being recorded throwing two objects at those attempting to attack the building, he received an 18-month prison sentence.

He received a 20-month prison sentence, for violent disorder (he was found to have breached this dispersal notice and kicked a police barrier).

2 ) A 20-year-old South Asian man from Bolton, was stopped and searched, and issued with a dispersal notice when he attempted to join others confronting ‘anti immigration protesters’.

Court cases include:

1) An asylum seeker in his 30s who went to protect a mosque after it was targeted. He received a 12- month prison sentence for violent disorder for throwing objects (including cans) at the people trying to attack it.

The research shows the criminalisation of anti-racist solidarity. As well as, denying specific groups of people the right to mobilise - against far-right linked incursions into their local communities.

irr.org.uk/article/cale...