By Kamal yalwa Saturday, 2 August 2025 | Rotherham, South Yorkshire
A year after violent anti-immigration riots broke out in Rotherham, residents living near the Holiday Inn Express—used at the time to house asylum seekers—are still haunted by the scenes they witnessed.
“It looked like a modern-day lynching,” said Paris, who, along with her partner Josh, lives just 200 metres from the hotel. “We thought we were going to see someone thrown out a window or dragged outside.”
The riot, which erupted on 4 August 2024, was one of the worst outbreaks of disorder during a turbulent week of unrest across several UK towns. Tensions had reached a boiling point just days after a knife attack in Southport claimed the lives of three schoolgirls, intensifying frustrations around immigration policy.
Masked demonstrators, some carrying bags of alcohol and accompanied by children, set fires and stormed the hotel. Josh recalled moving their car to a nearby street for safety before retreating indoors to watch nearly seven hours of chaos unfold.
Lingering Tensions, Lasting Impact
Twelve months later, the Holiday Inn Express has reopened to the public. But the unrest has left a lasting mark—not just on the building, which was set on fire during the riot—but on community relations.
“I still see all this hate being spilled in online groups,” said Josh. “I think it probably could happen again,” Paris added. “That’s the faith I have in the country, really.”
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard warned that the violence could have had even deadlier consequences. “Had the rioters been more effective, we would have seen people dying that day,” he told Sky News.
He blamed unresolved poverty and social inequality for fuelling resentment in some communities and called for a stronger focus on social cohesion and asylum reform. “Politics is not doing a good job of dealing with these issues,” Coppard added.
‘People Want to Riot Again’
Despite multiple prosecutions and lengthy prison sentences handed down to those involved, some locals believe the core frustrations remain unresolved.
In Rotherham market, 23-year-old scaffolder Josh said the issue hasn’t gone away. “It makes people angry… it makes people want to riot again.”
Others, like Gabriel, 38, who was born in Rotherham, said he has felt a shift in public perception. “People look at me differently now,” he said. “That tension is worse than the incident itself—before it was hidden, now it’s out there.”
A woman who asked to remain anonymous expressed concern over rising polarisation: “The backlash is going to happen—people against government, government against people. But we all have to live together… we bleed the same blood.”
National Reckoning on Immigration
The events in Rotherham have come to symbolise a wider failure in the UK’s immigration system, exposing deep-seated frustrations in neglected communities.
Recent protests outside migrant hotels suggest those tensions still simmer beneath the surface, with calls growing for comprehensive reform to prevent a repeat of last summer’s violence.
