Fears, anguish and frustration in a northern UK town hit by racist riots

Middlesbrough, United Kingdom – In the middle of last year, Shazia Noor Ghani’s phone was a relentless barrage of anxiety, fear, and heartbreak.

A mother of three, she found herself at the centre of a desperate crisis, managing a hotline that was inundated with calls from terrified Muslim women in Middlesbrough, as the town descended into hate-fuelled riots.

The wave of chaos, which hit various towns and cities, was one of the largest demonstrations of racist violence in living memory to hit the UK.

At one point in the northern port town of Middlesbrough, a group of white men set up a makeshift checkpoint, halting traffic and interrogating drivers about their ethnicity, demanding to know if they were “white” or “English”.

“I didn’t get off the phone for three days,” Ghani recalled, her voice tinged with exhaustion as she relived those dark days.

“I was just getting nonstop calls from terrified Muslim women asking for advice. It was so traumatic. They didn’t know what to do. They didn’t know where to go. ‘Are we allowed out? Can we go get milk?’”

Some were victims of attacks.

“Oh my God. My windows have been smashed,” one caller cried, said Ghani.

She is the founder of Nur Fitness, a community organisation in Middlesbrough that offers a safe space for women of colour. The initiative is home to a women’s gym and a range of services, from mental health workshops to support for victims of domestic abuse.