Films

UK Riots Were Worse Than You Thought

I went to the Hull protest to see whether the media had it right. Then the mob turned on me.

UK Riots Were Worse Than You Thought

After the Southport stabbings, protests were called across the country and riots had already broken out in Sunderland and Southport. I went to Hull, to a protest organised by John Francis Gilling of the Hull Patriotic Protestors, which I'd first seen advertised by Alan Leggett's ActivePatriot account.

I went to find out whether it really was the far-right event the coverage described, or whether that was too easy a story. It became a racist riot within hours — looting, fires, Muslims and immigrants attacked, their businesses attacked, and a hotel housing asylum seekers surrounded.

I spoke to protesters and to rioters. While I was filming, the mob turned on me and I got away with cuts and bruises. This film is my attempt to make sense of what I watched happen.

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