Nigel Farage has issued an 'emergency address' following the release of police footage showing Henry Nowak, a student fatally stabbed after allegedly being racially abused, handcuffed and pleading for help. The Reform UK leader described the family's response as 'extraordinarily dignified' and urged the public to respond with 'pure cold rage'. He linked the case to 'anti-white prejudice' and called for the promotion of the idea that 'white lives matter just as much as black lives'.
Farage's intervention comes as he faces being outflanked by harder-right figures, including former Reform MP Rupert Lowe, who pledged that the killer would have been 'put to death' under his party. Elon Musk, a critic of Farage, has also taken a keen interest, tweeting about the case and offering to fund a wrongful death lawsuit against police.
The case has been seized upon by ethnonationalist far-right groups, who are using social media to amplify racist narratives. AI-generated memes depicting Nowak's handcuffed hand have circulated, with slogans like 'Millions must go'. Some commentators have drawn parallels to the 2024 killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska in the US, blaming 'woke' policies.
Farage's reluctance to hold press conferences recently, amid revelations about a £5m gift from a crypto billionaire and his claim of being hacked by Russians, has not deterred him from making this statement. He urged the attorney general to review the sentence of the killer, Vickrum Singh Digwa.
