The Hartlepool Summer 2024 Riots – One Year On :

Hartlepool seen some of the worst clashes in the summer 2024 riots.

The streets may have been cleaned of the debris, the shop windows fixed, but a year on, its claimed the towns once again, just one headline away from erupting into violent clashes once more.

31st July 2025

It’s been a year since the summer 2024 riots seen violent protests and disorder grip towns and cities across the country – none more so than Hartlepool. As the streets have been swept and buildings repaired, some might assume that life in this seaside town has returned to normal. But for many residents, the trauma of that turbulent period remains worryingly fresh in their minds, with the fear of a repeat event said to be simmering just beneath the surface.

Hartlepool, which was the location of some of the worst unrest seen in the UK in decades, has not fully recovered. Whilst the visible signs of violence have been erased, locals say the emotional and social scars haven’t healed – and may never.

A Town on Edge

The Teesside & Durham Post spoke to some local residents across the town this week where it seems a common theme emerges: unease.

Our reporters found that many feel Hartlepool is once again just “one headline away” from tipping back into chaos. Whilst there's no visible signs of fresh protests brewing on the surface, a tense atmosphere lingers — one that suggests the summer riots weren’t an isolated explosion, but rather the result of deeper, unresolved issues in a town that voted almost 70% to leave the European Union in the 2016 Brexit Referendum, primarily on the basis that the country would have back control of its borders - a notion which sadly never occurred !

Multiple Failed Asylum Seeker Ahmed Alid was sentenced to a minimum of 45 years in prison for fatally stabbing Hartlepool Local Terrence Carney, in October 2023

Many locals here are increasingly vocal about what they perceive as government inaction on illegal immigration & the dangers this is having to the local community. Hartlepool’s riots came in the wake of the national unrest triggered by the Southport murders, but residents argue the town’s anger had been building long before the Southport Incident, with The killing of 70 year old Terence Carney — a lone pensioner who was fatally stabbed by a multiple failed asylum seeker. The watershed moment coming following the revelation that not only should Ahmed Alid have never been allowed to set foot onto UK soil, but that the attacker had already been denied asylum multiple times in a number of European Countries, enraging many locals in the process and arguably lit the fuse for the violent clashes that then followed just nine months later. .

Clashes Almost Broke the Police Line

Cleveland Police were at one point 'outnumbered' by the sheer number of violent protestors, many of which were armed with brocks & other projectiles

The scale and ferocity of the protests shocked both authorities and the nation.

Cleveland Police, caught almost completely off guard by the sheer volume and organisation of protestors, were said to have been seriously outflanked at one point.

With bricks, bottles, and other projectiles being hurled towards officers, the situation quickly spiralled into damage to nearby properties including a local butchers shop & several town homes, with protestors believed to have been heading towards one of the town’s two mosques, prompting fears of a major sectarian escalation.

Violence erupted in nearby Middlesbrough shortly after clashes in Hartlepool with officer resources stretched to their limit.

Reinforcements were then reportedly drafted in from both Middlesbrough and Durham, as the violence escalated to the point that a police vehicle was torched. Some feared that Cleveland Police might be forced to retreat entirely from key areas – a chilling prospect for any town in peacetime Britain, with clashes in nearby towns such as Middlesbrough then taking hold just days later, stretching police resources to their absolute limit.

Political Silence, Public Anger

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer did little to quell public anger by branding many of the protestors "Right Wing Thugs"....

In the aftermath, many had hoped the scale of unrest would force a serious reassessment of government policy on illegal immigration, the right to protest, and law enforcement. But critics say that in the aftermath of the 2024 summer riots very little has changed, where, if anything, issues with regards to freedom of speech & the right to protest have in fact 'gotten much worse' since the clashes which occurred last year..

Lucy Connolly was handed a 31 month prison sentence for a deleted tweet about the Southport Riots

Instead, there are growing claims of “two-tier policing” and “two-tier justice,” occurring in the UK, with locals accusing the system of treating protestors harshly whilst ignoring the underlying community grievances.

Several residents who spoke to The Teesside & Durham Post recently expressed their frustration at what they see as disproportionate sentencing of protestors, or those posting their thoughts on Social Media, in what many feel is the UK Government acting in an increasingly authoritarian manner, especially towards those who are of a White British Ethnicity.

A Town Under Pressure

In a town where levels of poverty, unemployment & crime buck the trend as being some of the highest in the country, the real pressure point, many argue, lies in housing and local services. In recent years, residents claim that parts of Hartlepool have been dramatically reshaped by the influx of asylum seekers being placed in private rentals, HMOs, and potentially even social housing. While investigations are ongoing into the accuracy of those housing claims, what cannot be disputed is the public perception: a widespread belief that locals are being pushed to the back of the queue for services, all while illegal newcomers are seemingly prioritised for housing & services that even locals cannot access.

Long-standing communities in Hartlepool now feel their areas have changed beyond all recognition, with some residents expressing the feeling of being made to feel like “second-class citizens in their own town” — a sentiment that only fuels further resentment and adds to the social volatility.

Jonathan Brash Breaks Ranks

Labour MP Jonathan Brash was just weeks into his role as Labour MP for Hartlepool when the Summer 2024 riots erupted last year

Even Hartlepool’s Labour MP, Jonathan Brash, has shown signs of departing from his party’s stance on asylum policy, with Mr Brash openly criticising the government for housing what he describes as a disproportionately high number of asylum seekers in Hartlepool. Brash has called for a halt to asylum placements in the constituency, citing the destabilising effect it’s had on housing, access to healthcare, and local infrastructure.

Whether his shift reflects a genuine policy rethink or political pressure from a disillusioned electorate seemingly now swinging to Reform UK remains to be seen. What’s clear, however, is that his public statements have lent weight to claims that Hartlepool is bearing more than its fair share of a national crisis & the crisis has taken its toll...

The Calm Before Another Storm?

Walking through the streets where violence had erupted just one year ago — the streets are now seemingly calm.... for the moment — However it's impossible not to notice the underlying community tension. The memory of the sirens, the smoke, and violence between protestors and police.

It’s not a matter of nostalgia or exaggeration. It’s the shared sense among many locals that what happened in the summer of 2024 was not an aberration — but a stark warning that if nothing changes soon.....?

Then the next spark could very well light the fuse again.