'I can’t breathe': The ominous silence of George Floyd's mourners in the Nowak Case

In December 2025, Henry Nowak, an 18-year-old British finance student with no previous record, was stabbed four times with a kirpan - the 21-centimeter Sikh ceremonial knife - as he was returning to his university residence in Southampton, United Kingdom. His assailant, Vickrum Digwa, 23, attacked him without apparent provocation.

When police arrived, Digwa falsely accused the injured youth of having racially assaulted him. The officers, apparently fearful of being accused of racism, handcuffed Nowak while he was bleeding profusely on the ground.

In body camera footage released Monday, the young man can be heard desperately repeating "I've been stabbed" and "I can't breathe," a phrase he uttered nine times before losing consciousness without immediate help.

When the young college student insisted that he had been stabbed, the policeman replied, "I don’t think you have, mate." Henry died in handcuffs in police custody.

This Monday, Digwa was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 21 years in prison. Both Judge William Mousley KC and the victim's family have sharply criticized the initial police action. Henry's father lamented the lack of dignity with which his son died, bleeding to death while the authorities treated his assailant with "decency."

Farage compares silence on Nowak to explosive backlash over George Floyd

Watching footage of the Nowak case, the Reform UK leader, Nigel Farage, claimed in a video posted Tuesday on social media that the murder is evidence of the existence of "a two-tier Britain," alluding to the double standard that, according to him, prevails in the United Kingdom.

Farage charged that Nowak was treated in a manner in which "an accusation of a racial slur was treated more seriously than an act of murder" and compared Nowak's final moments to those of "career criminal" George Floyd.

Floyd died in police custody in Minnesota in May 2020, after Derek Chauvin, a white officer, knelt on his neck and ignored cries like Nowak's, in which he insisted he couldn't breathe.

In that regard, Farage noted the difference in the reactions of civil society and its leaders after Floyd's death: "Remember the reaction to [George Floyd] and the way the police behaved? Within a few days Keir Starmer was taking the knee, Black Lives Matter, it exploded all over the country, Churchill’s statue was defaced, the Cenotaph was vandalised."

"And yet what has the public reaction been from our leaders and politicians and indeed to be frank much of the media to this? Silence, absolute silence." Farage concluded by saying that in the UK "the rights and privileges of white people matter less than those of ethnic minorities."

A belated and bureaucratic response

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, spoke out on Monday about the murder of Henry Nowak in a distant and protocol-bound tone. In a statement posted on X, he described the case as "awful" and "shocking," acknowledged the "trauma" experienced by the family and stressed that the young man was "thoughtful, kind and deeply loved." However, his message focused on general aspects, such as the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) investigation and the need to combat knife crime, without showing strong condemnation of the initial police action.

Starmer's response to Henry Nowak's murder has been sharply criticized for its coldness and tardiness. This Monday, former Reform UK spokesman, Gawain Towler said the prime minister's response "is the statement of a PR man" and "the statement of a technocrat," devoid of passion and anger at what had happened to Henry Nowak.

For her part, former Interior Minister Suella Braverman was one of the most forceful voices in stating on X that the images of the Nowak case are evidence of anti-white racism.

According to the current Reform UK MP, "this is not just about knife crime" but also about "police failure, poor police training and anti- white racism."

Finally, she asked, "Who is going to be held accountable for this scandal?"

Khan's silence on Nowak's death

For his part, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has been completely silent on the murder of Henry Nowak. So far he has not issued any official statement, tweet or public statement on the case, something that has generated harsh criticism from politicians and conservative media, who accuse him of applying double standards.

This silence contrasts with his reaction in 2020 after the death of George Floyd. At that time, Khan was one of the most vocal leaders in the UK: he publicly expressed his "fury," expressed solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, supported protests and promoted a commission to review statues and symbols in London. The difference between his activism to Floyd and his current silence to Nowak has been pointed to as a clear sign of the "two-tiered Britishness" denounced by Farage and other leaders.