Birmingham riots: Terrified LBC reporter flees from armed mob vowing to protect community
It was the same day a mob carrying Palestine flags beat alone man outside a Birmingham pub and surrounded a car that had a window smashed in.
A journalist has described the "terrifying" moment he ran from an Asian group of men who he feared were armed after being "chased out of their area".
Fraser Knight, a reporter for LBC, was covering tensions in Birmingham yesterday, Monday, August, 5, amid fears of another far-right protest, when he was forced to flee despite the radio station hiring security guards.
It was the same day a mob carrying Palestine flags beat alone man outside a Birmingham pub and surrounded a car that had a window smashed in.
He echoed claims from others that the events were severely under-policed by West Midlands Police.
In a post on X, he said: "What is happening on the streets of Britain is causing real tensions among communities.
"As a reporter, I’ve just been chased out of an area of east Birmingham by groups of Asian men who had come out to ‘protect their community’ against a planned far-right demonstration.
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"The security guard with me decided immediately it wasn’t safe for us - it was clear we weren’t welcome - but there wasn’t a safe place for us to go for miles.
"Cars followed us, we had abuse shouted at us and at one point a group of around 6 men ran after us down a road with what looked like a weapon.
"We were forced to run.
"The far right didn’t appear to show up but the community here was on edge waiting and ready for them. They were on all corners of a roundabout and lined the roads that surrounded it.
"We were warned that we’d regret it if we hung around. We’re safe now."
In an article on the LBC website, he later added: "We tried to walk the long way around the crowd of hundreds of mostly Muslim, South Asian men, to report on what was happening from a safe vantage point.
"They had come out in large numbers to ‘protect their community’, wearing hoods and masks, flying Palestinian flags and for some, carrying what appeared to be weapons.
"We had abuse shouted at us from passing cars - about the EDL - and one man told us we “would regret” being in the area as he advised us to leave immediately.
"Two minutes later, as we kept walking, a group of around six South Asian men started walking towards us, carrying what looked like a metal pole.
"We turned around and walked the other way before they started chasing after us, shouting as they did so.
"For the next 20 minutes, every way we turned, we faced more abuse and more dodgy looks, and cars appeared to be circling around us.
"At the same time, we now know, a crew from Sky News was also forced off air and had their tyres stabbed by another man.
"We eventually managed to get back to the city centre, deciding that was the best and safest place for us to report on what happened.
"The ordeal was terrifying. I was tired and my heart was racing.
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"I’ve never been chased and threatened in that way.
"But what struck me - and what led us to the decision that it wasn’t safe for us to stay in the area - was the lack of a police presence.
"In the 40 minutes we were there, we saw perhaps two or three police cars driving past.
"There were no officers on the streets that we walked. There were no vans on standby nearby that I could see."
He said the ordeal had not put him off reporting, adding: "We’ll continue to do our job. We won’t be deterred. The public needs to know what’s happening - on all sides."
The force has been contacted for comment.
