“What happened last night in my hometown felt deeply personal but unsurprising. I grew up as a victim of intense racism in this town, subject to physical abuse regularly and verbal abuse daily…not just by your typical neo-nazis or Tommy Robinson boys but even by people who claimed to be my friends. Racism is a very normal part of life there, it’s the reason I ran as fast and as far as I could when I was old enough to.

I saw faces starting a race riot yesterday that have attacked or verbally abused me in the past. I knew what they were then and I know what they are now, they will never surprise me. They are a prime example of what happens when people choose to ignore the realities of racism, it festers and grows in its severity and confidence.

There were bairns out who looked no older than 7 or 8 throwing bricks and missiles, chanting racist slurs, attacking my local asian community and bricking in shop windows on Murray Street. Most of them egged on by their parents. The far right mob then descended onto Dent Street where they bricked in peoples homes and burned out a bizzy car, all in the name of “England”. They brought their kids to fight a war, potentially one with a lengthy prison sentence attached, that didn’t even exist in the first place. Not a brain cell between them, they couldn’t find the mosque on Murray street and the halal butchers was shuttered up so they seemingly just attacked the non-halal butchers and assaulted an old man who had a walking stick outside of there. They ripped the roofs off asian owned businesses and they went on what can only be described as a p*ki bashing spree. Us p*kis have always had it hard in Hartlepool but I feel like I’ve woken up in the 80s to a very different tone, no longer one of tolerance in any capacity.”