by It began as a meeting to protect a mosque from a rumored far-right demonstration on Monday.
But the initially peaceful gathering in Bordesley Green, a suburb of Birmingham, turned violent, culminating in an attack on a pub and leaving one barman with a “lacquered liver”.
Sean McDonagh, 51, was beaten and kicked outside the Clumsy Swan pub after dozens of men, some carrying Palestinian flags, broke away from the main group.
Footage on social media shows him being beaten by a man dressed in a black puffer jacket and balaclava in the pub’s front garden. He told the Telegraph that he was taken to hospital after the attack, and later refused to apologize to the Muslim community.
Muslim men wearing masks and hoods first gathered outside the Village Islamic Center mosque in Bordesley Green at around 5pm on Monday.
The crowd, some waving Palestinian flags and chanting “Allahu Akbar”, had sparked rumors that far-right demonstrators planned to descend on the neighborhood that evening.
After six days of riots across the United Kingdom, during which mosques were targeted, the young men gathered in force. One person was seen wielding a large bat.
As the evening progressed, it became clear that the reports were inaccurate, and no crowd came far to the right. But the reunion soon turned into a violent romp through the streets of the city.
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In a clip that captured the chaos, a live Sky News broadcast was interrupted by a masked man who sprung up behind journalist Becky Johnson on a motorbike and shouted: “Yo, free Palestine, f— the EDL.”
The broadcast was quickly ended and security was sent to the reporter, according to Sky News. The broadcaster said a man in a balaclava stabbed the tire of one of its broadcast vans, but did not damage it.
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Later, people moved out of the mosque and walked further east. Footage posted online at 8.47pm showed chaos in Alcombe Grove, Stechford, about a mile and a half away. A blue Skoda was being driven through a rioting crowd, who attacked the vehicle and smashed the windows.
It is not clear who the driver was, or why his car was attacked, but there was no doubting the anger and violence of the rioters.
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In the late evening, the crowd moved south down Stoney Lane, towards the Clumsy Swan pub where customers were enjoying a night of karaoke.
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It was here that several men attacked Mr McDonagh.
The film shows the masked man in the black bomber jacket entering the pub’s front garden and swinging a pint at him. As he falls to the floor, another rioter kicks him in the head.
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Linda Fogarty, the pub’s 60-year-old assistant manager, could only watch from inside. She had indicated that the crowd was making its way towards the pub, and that the rest of her customers were blocked inside, stacking chairs and tables against the front door.
She told the Telegraph: “I got everyone in, I got the chairs in, the customers got in, the staff got in, they locked the doors. And then it took off from there, they tried to kick the door in, they broke all the windows… It wasn’t great.”
Footage from inside the pub shows terrified drinkers looking on as rioters swarm around the building and fire missiles at it.
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His friends Gabrielle O’Toole, 51 and Victoria Jones, 42, were in the pub before the crowd arrived. Speaking on Tuesday, they said the police intervention was “rubbish”.
Miss O’Toole said: “I was there from the start. I can tell you that there was one police wagon parked at McDonald’s and not one policeman found out when I was there. It is a two-tiered policing.
“When I was up there, I felt sorry for the police because they don’t stand a chance. Racism is what he turned into. It’s absolute rubbish, they’re scared, they’re outnumbered and they know they can’t do anything. It was carnage up there.”
On Tuesday, Muslim community activists led by Naveed Sadiq, who were not involved in the riot, visited the pub and apologized for the violent scenes that had taken place.
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On Tuesday afternoon, West Midlands police confirmed that an attack on a drinker outside the Clumsy Swan was being investigated as a violent disorder.
In a statement, the force also said a 46-year-old man had been arrested by police investigating television footage showing a man armed with what appeared to be a weapon.
Other inquiries are underway into damage to the pub’s windows, attempts to slash a tire on a Sky News vehicle, and damage to a Skoda car which was forced to drive across a grassy area after being attacked.
The incident has previously attracted the attention of Elon Musk, the owner of X, on Twitter, which has sparked a row with Downing Street over how widespread riots are being policed across the UK.
Mr Musk awarded the Prime Minister with a “two-tier Keir” in a comment on X in response to a video showing the crowd attacking the pub. He captioned video footage: “Why isn’t every community in Britain protected?”
