Police were last night forced to defend themselves for failing to stop a mob of masked Muslims targeting a pub during a march to ‘protect’ Birmingham.
Hundreds of men – some armed and many with their faces covered – gathered in the Bordesley Green area on Monday night to keep the Muslim community safe from a rumoured far-Right rally.
But trouble flared after the far-Right failed to materialise, with some armed thugs in the group instead attacking cars, chasing journalists and later descending on a pub in the Yardley area.
Footage appeared to show a man being assaulted in front of The Clumsy Swan, which had its doors and windows damaged as the mob tried to break in and terrified customers and staff hid.
Those caught up in the chaos criticised police yesterday for failing to intercept the gang and then not responding quickly enough to the attack, despite one of the city’s biggest police stations sitting just down the road.
The incident came amid claims of ‘two-tier policing’, with suggestions that far-Right protests have been treated more firmly by police.
The claim has been pushed by Nigel Farage and Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, on his social media site X.
West Midlands Police said it recognised ‘there were some concerns’ with its response and said it was investigating five separate incidents including an assault on a man in his 50s. A 46-year-old man was separately arrested on suspicion of possessing an offensive weapon.
In a statement, the force said it was ‘clear’ there were individuals at the initial gathering who had face coverings and were acting ‘in an antisocial manner’, adding it would have been ‘extremely intimidating for people’. But the force added: ‘On the whole we’ve received positive feedback on how we dealt with the gathering.’
Their view conflicts with accounts of those on the ground. One Muslim community leader accused police of ignoring his tip-off.
At the start of the unrest in Bordesley Green, Sky News were forced to cut short a live broadcast after reporter Becky Johnson was surrounded by a masked group on bikes who yelled expletives and made gun signs at the camera.
A man later attacked their van with a knife. LBC reporter Fraser Knight described being chased away from the scene by a group of Muslim men who appeared armed and said he was ‘struck’ by ‘the lack of police presence’.
The masked group who targeted the pub walked nearly two miles from the scene of the initial gathering, with footage showing them blocking traffic. But there is no evidence to suggest the police tried to stop them.
The gang approached the pub at about 8.30pm and one of their number was filming. ‘We’re showing dominance, asserting dominance over everybody,’ he said in the footage, which has been shared widely on social media.
Assistant pub manager Linda Fogarty, 60, had been alerted to the potential trouble and ushered her customers inside. One, reported to be Sean McDonagh, 51, was confronted outside by the gang and punched to the ground and kicked. He said he had been taken to hospital with a torn liver.
Other thugs tried to smash the windows and kick down the door. Ms Fogarty, whose hand was slammed in a door, said: ‘I was scared. We were having a karaoke night. There were kids in there.’
Naveed Sadiq, a respected figure in the local Muslim community, rushed to the scene and managed to halt the attack.
He had just come from a meeting hosted by police in Bordesley Green to provide reassurance to the Muslim community – and phoned the officer he met there to warn him of the violence. He was assured ‘nothing is happening’.
Mr Sadiq said: ‘We were told that there isn’t a two-tier policing system. I don’t want to break my relationship with the police, but I did give them a heads-up and they should have been here.’
A 24-year-old pub regular, who asked not to be named, stumbled across the attack on Monday night.
He said: ‘As we’ve seen from the marches that have been going on around the country, they’ve been police-escorted. Now we have a march that has gone from Bordesley Green to here and they’ve not been followed. Literally two minutes away is the biggest police station in the area.’
Several Muslim community members went to the pub to show support yesterday. A local mosque, Mr Sadiq and others have offered to pay for the damage.