It started as a gathering to protect a mosque from a rumoured far-Right demonstration.
But a peaceful counter-protest in the Bordesley Green suburb of Birmingham soon turned violent, ending in an attack on a pub and leaving one pubgoer with a “lacerated liver”.
Sean McDonagh, 51, was punched and kicked outside the Clumsy Swan pub after dozens of men, some carrying Palestine flags, broke off from the main group.
Footage on social media shows Mr McDonagh being punched by a man dressed in a black puffer jacket and balaclava in the pub’s front garden.
Mr McDonagh told The Telegraph he was taken to hospital after the attack and rejected a subsequent apology from the Muslim community.
Muslim men wearing masks and hoods first gathered outside the Village Islamic Centre mosque in the Bordesley Green suburb of Birmingham at around 5pm.
Waving Palestine flags and chanting “Allahu Akbar”, the crowd had turned out following rumours that far-Right protesters planned to descend on the quiet neighbourhood on Monday evening.
After six days of riots across the UK, in which mosques had been targeted, the young Muslim men had come out in force. One man was seen to be wielding what appeared to be a large bat.
As the evening progressed, it became clear the reports were inaccurate and no right-wing mob appeared.
But what had started as a peaceful gathering to protect a mosque soon turned into a violent romp through the city’s streets.
In a clip which captured the chaos, a Sky News live broadcast was interrupted by a masked protester who sped up behind presenter Becky Johnson on a motorbike and shouted “yo, free Palestine, f— the EDL” .
The broadcast was quickly ended and security was sent to the reporter, according to Sky News. The broadcaster said a man in a balaclava stabbed the tyre of one of its broadcast vans but did not damage it and it escaped without suffering any damage.
Later protestors moved away from the mosque and walked further east. Footage posted online at 8.47pm showed a scene of chaos in Alcombe Grove, Stechford, around a mile and a half from the mosque. The video showed a blue Skoda being driven through a crowd of rioters, who attacked the vehicle as it passed and smashed its windows.
It is unclear who the driver was, or why his car became the target of attack, but the anger and violence of the rioters is left to no doubt.
In the late evening, the mob moved south down Stoney Lane, towards the Clumsy Swan pub where punters were enjoying an evening of karaoke.
It was here that Sean McDonagh was attacked by several men. Footage shows a masked man dressed in a black puffer jacket entering the pub’s front garden and swinging a punch at Mr McDonagh. As he falls to the floor, another rioter kicks him in the head.
The pub’s assistant manager Linda Fogarty, 60, could only watch from inside. She had got word that the mob was making its way towards the pub, and had barricaded the rest of her customers indoors, stacking chairs and tables against the front door.
She told The Telegraph: “I got everyone in, got the chairs in, got the customers in, staff in, locked the doors.
“And then it just escalated from there, they tried to kick the door in, smashed all the windows … It wasn’t great.”
Footage from inside the pub showed terrified drinkers looking out through smashed windows as rioters swarmed around the building and hurled missiles at it.
Friends Gabrielle O’Toole, 51 and Victoria Jones, 42, had been at the pub before the mob arrived. Speaking on Tuesday about the attack, they said it was “rubbish” that police intervened.
Ms O’Toole said: “I was there from the beginning, I can tell you that there was one police wagon parked at McDonald’s and not one policeman got out while I was there. It’s two-tier policing.
“When I was up there. I actually felt sorry for the police, because they do not stand a chance. Racism is what it turned into.
“It’s absolute rubbish, they are petrified, they are outnumbered and they know they can do nothing. It was carnage up there.”
On Tuesday, Muslim community activists led by Naveed Sadiq, who was not involved in the riot, visited the pub and apologised for the violent scenes that had unfolded.
On Tuesday evening West Midlands Police confirmed that an assault on a drinker outside Yardley’s Clumsy Swan pub is being investigated as a violent disorder.
In a statement, the force also said a 46-year-old male has been arrested by police investigating TV footage that shows a man apparently armed with a weapon.
Other inquiries are underway into damage caused to windows at the pub, attempts to slash a tyre on a Sky News vehicle, and damage caused to a Skoda car that was forced to drive across a grassed area after being attacked.
The incident also caught the attention of Elon Musk, the owner of X, formerly Twitter, who has provoked a row with Downing Street over how widespread riots are being policed across the UK.
Mr Musk branded the Prime Minister “two-tier Keir” in a comment on X in response to a video showing the protesters attacking the pub.
He captioned the video with the message: “Why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?”
https://www.yahoo.com/news/muslim-counter-protesters-went-defending-182838272.html