Rotherham riots: 'Violence at Holiday Inn housing asylum seekers is terrorism', believes ex-police chief
Violent riots at a Holiday Inn hotel in Rotherham should be treated as terrorism, Britain’s former head of counter-terrorism has said.
The comments come after a far-right mob tried to set the hotel in Manvers, Rotherham, on fire with more than 200 men, women and children inside.
Speaking to The Guardian, Neil Basu, the nation’s head of counter-terrorism from 2018 to 2021, said: “Trying to set ablaze a building with people inside, whom you have made clear you detest, is an act of violence against people and property with a racial cause designed to intimidate a section of the public – be it Muslims or asylum seekers.
“Not only does it fit the definition of terrorism, it is terrorism. It’s nothing short of an attempt at a modern-day lynching and the people who did it should be facing life imprisonment, not a five-year sentence for violent disorder.”
Some of the masked rioters who attack the South Yorkshire hotel on Sunday, August 4, hurled pieces of wood, bottles and chairs, and sprayed fire extinguishers at officers. 12 officers were injured in the riot.
Mr Basu condemned the violent thugs as “bullies and cowards”. Similar violence was seen outside a hotel accommodating asylum seekers in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
South Yorkshire Police have charged seven people in relation to the disorder in Rotherham and Sheffield at the weekend.
Following the violence, South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard said “Like every other decent person in South Yorkshire I have been appalled, angry and saddened by the events we have seen in our community in the last 24 hours.
“There is no excuse for what we saw happen in Rotherham, for the damage and destruction that was carried out by those who chose to so violently express their hatred in our communities.
“There is simply no justification for trying to burn down a hotel with over two hundreds vulnerable and terrified people inside. Those people came here to seek refuge from violence and persecution at home, and yet yesterday they faced that same violence here.”
More than 200 asylum seekers were being housed in the Holiday Inn whilst their claims were being processed. Every person who was living in the hotel have now been moved to another location.
Mayor Coppard continued: “My grandparents came to this country as refugees. I am now the Mayor of South Yorkshire. The same opportunity that was afforded to me is what I will fight every day to protect. Everyone – no matter whether they were born here or if they have chosen to make our home, their home – deserves the chance to live out their fullest potential here in South Yorkshire.
“Over the coming days and weeks we must now show the rest of the world who we really are; a community filled with kindness and hope, where everyone is welcome and safe.”
On Monday, following the riots, local residents in Manvers and beyond came together to begin the clear-up. Groups of people with litter pickers and bin bags descend to the Holiday Inn Express and joined council staff as they picked up the pieces of the weekends violence.