Middlesbrough was subject to a violent race riot on 4 August 2024. Six months later, some politicians and some of the media want to pretend that it never happened. But some of us will continue to jog peoples’ memories.
Careful planning
In the run up to 4 August, a network of right wing groups agitated for protests across the UK. This was an exploitative response to the tragic deaths of three children in Southport. Nigel Farage, leader of the Reform Party, exploited the tragedy more than anyone else. In Middlesbrough, a ‘peaceful’ protest, planned to start at the Cenotaph on Linthorpe Road, was to be anything but.
Middlesbrough’s worst
Cleveland Police prepared to monitor a ‘peaceful’ march to Centre Square. But hundreds of masked vandals had been given their online instructions. They dodged away from the march, and eventually headed down side streets such as Garnet Street and Princes Road into the Gresham district. Gresham was where the real action was planned. These hooligans, many of them teenage boys, were being directed by cowardly armchair generals sitting in their bedrooms hundreds of miles away.
Middlesbrough’s best
Company Sergeant Major Stanley Elton Hollis VC, 6th Battalion Green Howards was born in Archibald Street, Middlesbrough, a few minutes walk from the events of 4 August 2024. Eighty years before, on 6 June 1944, Hollis and his men, having landed at Gold Beach, came under machine-gun fire from a pill box 20 yards away. According to his citation “C.S.M. Hollis instantly rushed straight at the pillbox, firing his Sten gun. He jumped on top of the pillbox, re-charged his magazine, threw a grenade in through the door and fired his Sten gun into it,” Stan Hollis, the only service member to be awarded a Victoria Cross on D-Day, had spent Day One of a courageous march from the beaches of Normandy to the bridges over the Rhine, in a bid to rid Europe of right wing terror.
Orgy of destruction
The strategy of the rioters had worked. While the police were otherwise engaged, they embarked on a spree of terrorism and destruction, smashing the windows of hundreds of houses and cars. These masked individuals usually hate people who wear masks, but they suspended their deeply-held principles just for the day. Over on Borough Road, they torched Brendan Nwabichie’s car. Brendan returned home from a 12-hour shift as a carer to find the remnants of his overturned vehicle outside his flat.
Terror in Gresham
Streets such as Athol Street and Bow Street took the worst hit, as this clip reveals.
Gresham Ward has one of the highest concentrations of asylum seekers and refugees in Teesside. Six months on, the residents are still traumatized and fearful. The rioters weren’t done. They headed for Parliament Road, but by this stage Cleveland Police had received back-up from Durham Constabulary mounted police, and were starting to match them. Cleveland Police’s own mounted unit was disbanded in 2013 as an austerity measure.
Wrong place at the wrong time
Thoughts and prayers to Megan Davison at this stage in our sad tale: At some time we’ve all taken dozens of Zopiclone tablets, then walked our dog down Parliament Road, then unwittingly participated in an attempted violent insurrection against a recently elected UK government, then jumped on a car roof, then looted the contents of the car, then laughed as our mates set fire to the car. It could have happened to anyone.
Skip fire
Over on Linthorpe Road, things took an almost comical turn, as Stacey Vint forgot the golden rule of Rioting 101. Always stay on your feet while pushing your burning wheelie bin in an attempt to hospitalise police during your race riot. I mean, we all learned that, right? Schoolgirl error. This clip shows the rioters preparing the wheelie bins on Ayresome Steet, minutes before Stacey Vint’s involvement. You’ll see ‘gifts’ popping up, which are payments from watchers to the streamer and to TikTok. Yes, the rioters were being given real-time cash incentives as a reward for trying to burn my home town to the ground.
Did somebody say ‘Just Eat’?
Meanwhile, back on Linthorpe Road, the rioters were progressing towards Centre Square, This progress was live-streamed via TikTok. One of the TikTokers, a school-age female, speculated on which premises would be spared the upcoming destruction. If you’re planning to raze Middlesbrough to the ground in the name of a half-baked conspiracy theory, you’re still going to need to eat. And so it was agreed that, because Manjaros offers some good two-for-one parmo offers on Just Eat, it would be safe for now. This person ran the most lucrative live-stream that day, under the account Tyler&Lucy. They later filmed, and encouraged, an attempt to destroy Teesside Crown Court and the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. I don’t know whether Cleveland Police are aware of this person.
Turnip Taliban
The rioters spread out across the town centre. It doesn’t matter if you never bothered to learn to read or write. Or ever ventured inside a church. Your online groomer has radicalised you into believing that you’ve got ‘legitimate concerns’ about barbaric invaders coming over here and destroying your ‘Christian’ culture and heritage. So take back your country by targeting libraries and universities, that’ll show ‘em.
A temporary respite
The following day a few hundred of us gathered at the Cenotaph and set about cleaning up the mess. The streets were clean within a few hours, but it took several weeks to repair the cars and re-glaze the windows. However, the healing process is far from over. Meanwhile, Cleveland Police set about the painstaking task of tracking down and jailing hundreds of people who thought that they could get away with terrorism.
Beneath contempt
In doing so, Cleveland Police continues to be accused of ‘two-tier’ policing by their mayor, Ben Houchen. There is no dog-whistling low to which this man will not stoop. On 20 January 2025, Middlesbrough’s mayor Chris Cooke announced a £225,000 post-riot community fund, including a pot of £50,000 aimed at helping the most vulnerable residents.
The healing process continues, but we’ll never forget how a few hundred young fools, and the ghouls who manipulated them, tried to destroy our community.
Thanks to James Waterson for contributing to this article
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