LONDON: UK leader Keir Starmer accused US tech tycoon Elon Musk on Thursday of &quot;trying to whip up division&quot; in Britain after anger over the police handling of the murder of a student. The case of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who was put in handcuffs by police as he lay mortally wounded after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, 23, in the southern city of Southampton in December, has become highly politicized in the UK. Digwa lied and told the police he himself was the victim and that Nowak had racially insulted him. Far-right figures have seized on the murder as an example that police forces in Britain treat white people and ethnic minorities differently -- an allegation Starmer&#39;s Labour government and police chiefs vehemently deny. Musk, the billionaire owner of X, has posted numerous times on the platform about the police response to the stabbing. In one, he asked whether people knew that &quot;official police policy requires them to be racist against Whites?&quot; Musk has offered to fund a private prosecution against the police over its handling of the murder, and insulted the Hampshire Police force. &quot;We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain,&quot; Starmer told reporters. &quot;In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people.&nbsp;When we have a terrible case like Henry&#39;s ... we react calmly, as his family have done,&quot; the prime minister added, referring to pleas from Nowak&#39;s father that his son&#39;s murder should not be used &quot;to create further division, hatred or tension.&quot; Digwa was jailed for at least 21 years on Monday for stabbing Nowak to death using a knife with a 21-centimeter (eight-inch) blade following an altercation about a mobile phone. Starmer has said there was &quot;no justification&quot; for violence at a Southampton protest on Tuesday night attended by far-right agitators, which saw demonstrators throw bricks, flares and chairs at police officers. One person has been charged with assault, and another with violent disorder. &#39;Lies and misinformation&#39;&nbsp;The prime minister said it was &quot;unforgivable&quot; that hard-right firebrand Nigel Farage, whose Reform UK party leads opinion polls, had called for people to respond to the murder with &quot;pure cold rage.&quot; Farage, who has been accused of stoking racial tensions with his remarks, has defended his comments. Starmer has called the bodycam footage of Nowak&#39;s death, during which he can repeatedly be heard telling officers he could not breathe, as &quot;harrowing.&quot; He said &quot;there are serious questions that need to be answered&quot; about the police response. The Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog is investigating and is expected to report back within the next three months. Musk has long been an outspoken critic of Starmer, a former chief state prosecutor before entering politics. The pair clashed last year over a decades-long &quot;grooming gangs&quot; sexual abuse scandal. Then, the prime minister accused the world&#39;s richest man of &quot;spreading lies and misinformation.&quot;

British police chiefs are reviewing anti-racism guidance following outrage over the treatment of a white student, who was handcuffed as he lay dying after being stabbed by a Sikh man, officials said June 3. (Photo: AFP)

United Kingdom

Keir Starmer accuses Elon Musk of stoking divisions in Britain by interfering in political debate surrounding a controversial murder case.

UK PM says Elon Musk 'trying to whip up division' over student's murder 

SOUTHAMPTON: Body camera footage of a dying student who was handcuffed by British police after being stabbed by a Sikh man and falsely accused of racially abusing his murderer sparked outrage Tuesday. Eighteen-year-old Henry Nowak is heard repeatedly telling police, &quot;I can&#39;t breathe,&quot; in the footage captured as he lay mortally wounded in December after a night out with his football team members. A judge on Monday jailed his killer, 23-year-old Sikh Vickrum Digwa, for at least 21 years for stabbing Nowak to death with a ceremonial knife with a 21cm blade. When police arrived at the scene in the south coast city of Southampton, Digwa lied to officers, telling them Nowak had racially insulted him and that he was the victim. The footage, which was played during Digwa&#39;s trial, shows police accepting the aggressor&#39;s accusation, and rather than helping Nowak, initially placed him in handcuffs despite his pleas that he had been stabbed and could not breathe. One officer can be heard asking Nowak: &quot;You&#39;ve been stabbed, whereabouts?&quot; before adding: &quot;Don&#39;t think you have, mate.&quot; Moments later, the young student collapsed and became unconscious. Speaking after Digwa was sentenced at Southampton Crown Court, Nowak&#39;s father, Mark, described the police treatment of his son as &quot;shocking.&quot; He called Nowak&#39;s treatment &quot;inhumane and degrading ... his murderer, however, was afforded decency. He was believed.&quot; The family gave permission for the police to release the bodycam footage. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned on X on Monday&nbsp;the &quot;awful, shocking case,&quot; saying it was right the independent police complaints watchdog was investigating officers&#39; &quot;response to (Nowak&#39;s) senseless murder.&quot; Main opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch and far-right Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for changes to police diversity policies. Farage said there needed to be an end to &quot;anti-white prejudice&quot; and recognition that &quot;white lives matter.&quot; &lsquo;Two-tier culture&rsquo; He said Nowak&#39;s words echoed the 2020 case of George Floyd, a black killed by police in the United States. &quot;I can&#39;t breathe. Familiar words. Remember career criminal George Floyd, who died in appalling circumstances in Midwest America,&quot; Farage said. At the time, Keir Starmer was taking the knee. Black Lives Matter exploded all over the country. Churchill&#39;s statue was defaced,&quot; Farage said. But after Nowak&#39;s death, there has been &quot;absolute silence, proof ... we&#39;re living in a two-tier culture in this country where the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities.&quot; Change was needed, Farage said, &quot;if our society is not to be ripped apart&quot; amid distrust between communities, and concern over policing and institutions. Badenoch accused Farage of &quot;deepening divisions&quot; with his comments. But she also took aim at so-called &quot;two-tier policing&quot; in which police allegedly deal with ethnic minorities more leniently. Badenoch, whose party has lost support on the right to Reform UK, called for citizens to be treated equally by police regardless of ethnicity. &quot;No two-tier policing, no believing that racism only happens to ethnic minorities. It happens to everyone,&quot; she told Good Morning Britain television. &quot;And the police need to be trained like that, not with the terrible anti-racism training, which is just reverse racism and reverse discrimination,&quot; she said. American tech tycoon Elon Musk posted on X an offer to fund a private prosecution against the police over their handling of the murder. Digwa was due in court again on Tuesday with his brother, Gurpreet Digwa, 27, and his father, Moga Singh, 52, on weapons offenses. All three face charges of possession of offensive weapons, including a flick knife, an extendable baton, knuckledusters, a machete, swords and kusaris. Digwa&#39;s family apologized to Nowak&#39;s family for the killing.&nbsp; The convicted killer&#39;s mother, Kiran Kaur, 53, will be sentenced on July 17 for assisting an offender by taking the knife back to the family home.

Demonstrators gather around Kingsway to march during 'Unite the Kingdom' organized at the call of far-right activist Tommy Robinson in London, United Kingdom on May 16, 2026. (AFP)

Europe

18 year-old Henry Nowak is heard repeatedly telling police "I can't breathe" in the footage captured as he lay mortally wounded in December after a night out with his football team members.

Articles tagged with "Henry Nowak"

UK PM says Elon Musk 'trying to whip up division' over student's murder

'I can't breathe': Outrage after UK police handcuff dying student