‘Riots started with politicians’ language which has normalised racism’

The riots of recent weeks began “not with violence, but with words” spoken by politicians, a celebrity photographer and social activist has said.

Misan Harriman, who is a friend of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, said language used by parliamentarians had “normalised racism for too long”.

Appearing in a video projected onto the Houses of Parliament, he praised the “beautiful scenes” on Wednesday as huge crowds gathered for anti-racist demonstrations following days of violent disorder.

He said the majority of the British public had shown they “celebrate difference” and challenged politicians to do the same.

The projection, in collaboration with the race equality think tank, The Runnymede Trust, showed clips of politicians including former prime minister Boris Johnson, referencing his 2018 comment in which he said it was “absolutely ridiculous” that some Muslim women chose to “go around looking like letterboxes”.

Ex-home secretary Suella Braverman, who has faced criticism for her previous comments on migration and against so-called “Islamists”, also appeared in the compilation, as did former prime minister David Cameron who spoke in 2015 of a “swarm” of migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

Former Labour MP Jonathan Ashworth also featured, with a clip from an interview in which he spoke about processing asylum claims and used the phrase “we’re gonna send them back” when speaking about “people who shouldn’t be here”.

Mr Harriman said: “In the last 48 hours we have seen beautiful scenes, tens of thousands of people across the UK standing up for love and acceptance in our communities.

“But the images we have all seen of horrific racist attacks have been chilling. And the truth is those racist riots started right here, not with violence, but with words.

“And as we all know, words matter and these words have normalised racism for too long.”

He called on politicians to say “it is the racists who are not welcome, it is the racists who have not integrated into 21st century Britain”.

The disorder seen in the past week has included some groups chanting “stop the boats”.

The phrase was often used by the most recent Conservative government, even appearing on the front of the lectern from which some speeches have been made inside Downing Street.

Dr Shabna Begum, from Runnymede Trust, said: “People of colour have had enough of being used as a distraction from problems that politicians caused.

“It is simply not enough to make a few arrests, politicians have been guilty of creating the conditions which enabled this violence and we need them to commit to a new political contract that is bold enough not to engage in racism and actually address the root causes of this violence, from the economy to educating our children on our shared migration story.”