Europe’s far right exploit Nowak murder with populist rhetoric on race

Polish far-right politicians have claimed that the murder of Henry Nowak symbolises “Britain’s descent into the depths of the earth” as populists from France , Spain and Japan focused on harrowing clips of his dying moments. Despite pleas from Nowak’s family for people not to exploit the killing for political gain and to focus on cutting knife crime, their comments have focused on race and immigration. Police footage showing Nowak’s final few minutes of life have been shared across the world. The 18-year-old was arrested and handcuffed as he lay dying from stab wounds, while his murderer, Vickrum Digwa, who had stabbed him five times, lied to police that he had been racially abused. Marta Czech, a member of the far-right Confederation of the Polish Crown, was questioned about Nowak’s murderer at an activists’ meeting last week in Hammersmith, west London. She called for a “defence of Poles in our country and abroad”. Nowak’s father is understood to be of Polish descent. She said: “We don’t have politicians who will care about Polish interests, or Poles, who will represent our values abroad, people with a Polish face, with a Polish passport. We need to be ready to repress these attacks. We must unite against such attacks.” Ewa Zajączkowska-Hernik, a Polish MEP in Viktor Orbán’s grouping, described Digwa, a British citizen, as “an Indian”. …