UK at risk of further waves of racist rioting unless government acts, latest report by leading race equality charity argues.
27th May 2025 – ‘Understanding the Racist Riots of 2024 and what should be done’, published by the Race Equality Foundation, outlines how the UK government has failed to tackle the underlying causes of the 2024 summer riots.
The report is the latest publication in a series of work by the Race Equality Foundation ‘Responding to the Racist riots’, a collaborative initiative [1] taking forward anti-racist solutions to tackle the causes of the riots.
Despite the severity of the violence last summer, the report warns the conditions that led to the riots remain unchanged and unchallenged.
Understanding the causes of the riots
Informed by a series of expert-led webinars [2], the report gives an assessment of the intersection of factors which led to the racist violence last summer.
It argues, despite action to suppress the initial violence, little has been done to confront the serious deeper issues the riots exposed: a climate of escalating racialised hate, Islamophobia spread by leaders and the media alike, anti-migrant rhetoric, economic marginalisation with the persistence of gendered violence, and institutional failures to prevent or respond effectively to such events.
All these factors contributed to “a toxic environment in which violence against minoritised ethnic people and communities was inevitable” [3], but they are preventable.
The report calls for immediate policy action to prevent a repeat of the Islamophobic and racist rioting seen across the UK in the summer of 2024.
The report provides six interventions and approaches imperative to address the challenges presented by the riots [4]:
- Developing and monitoring a clear definition of Islamophobia/anti-Muslim hate.
- Implementing a public health approach to violence prevention.
- Ensuring anti-racism efforts to address the riots involve directly affected communities.
- Developing national policies that enforce zero tolerance for racism in public institutions, particularly the NHS.
- Developing coordinated national and local responses to the threat of serious violent disorder.
- Promoting media literacy programmes and countering disinformation and misinformation
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] The Race Equality Foundation has been working to address the causes of the Racist Riots since September 2024 with the launch of a cross-sector, collaborative initiative ‘Responding to the Racist Riots’. Alongside the series of expert-led webinars, the initiative has also been working to support local authorities to strengthen their engagement with affected communities, collaborated with partners on media accountability, contributed to Government-led discussions on response and resilience, and carrying out reactive work such as it’s response to the Children’s Commissioner Children’s Involvement in the 2024 Riots report.
Further details about the initiative can be found on the Race Equality Foundation Website.
[2] In 2024 November – December, the Race Equality Foundation held four webinars with 21 expert speakers from across sectors; local government, the voluntary and community sector; Muslim charities, organisations working to tackle violence against women and girls, as well as those working within health and care, the media and the police. The webinar series was attended by over 400 participants. All contributors are acknowledged in the report.
[3] Quote taken from page 4; ‘The Executive Summary’, of the report.
[4] For a further explanation of policy action, go to the ‘Recommendations’ section of the ‘Understanding the Racist Riots of 2024 and what should be done’ report.
About the Race Equality Foundation
Race Equality Foundation is a national charity tackling racial inequality in public services to improve the lives of Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. The Foundation believes that everyone should be provided with the opportunities to flourish.
For Media enquiries and interviews, please contact:
- Promise Kindipan, Communications and Events Assistant at Race Equality Foundation on promise@racefound.org.uk or 07544 003558
- Halima Cooper-Stubbs, Policy Assistant at the Race Equality Foundation on halima@racefound.org.uk or 07872926873
