The verdict over the murder of a white British teenager sparked riots.
Henry Nowak was stabbed by a Sikh man in December, but handcuffed by police as he lay dying, after his attacker falsely accused him of racial abuse.
The incident fed into anger bubbling over a scandal involving Pakistani-heritage gangs raping girls, and drew backlash online from right-wing politicians who argue Western countries operate a “two-tier” justice system in which white citizens are treated worse than minorities.
It is a mirror image of the narrative after the 2020 death of George Floyd; that Nowak said “I can’t breathe” — the same words uttered by a Black man who died in US police custody in 2014 — has only amplified the comparison.