From fluttering flags on lamp posts to a football fan ban, racial tensions came to the fore again this year
An anti-racist protest in Birmingham(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
Outrage at relentless small boat crossings, attacks committed to or by asylum seekers, the turbulent Gaza conflict and, of course, the ‘questionable’ rise in flags across the UK.
Despite the United Kingdom becoming more diverse by the day, in 2025, it felt like the country was more racially divided than ever.
And Birmingham, a true melting pot of different ethnicities and cultures, was at the centre of the volatility.
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It culminated in West Midlands Police’s drastic move to ban Israeli football fans from attending an Aston Villa match over fears that uncontrollable disorder would break out.
A decision which was no doubt intended to prevent shameful scenes in Birmingham, ultimately threw the city under the spotlight as to why such a measure might be necessary.
Meanwhile, the courts were still playing catch-up with punishing people involved in race-related crimes of previous years.
Below we have listed those who were sentenced in 2025 for fuelling division.
In May, Adam Said was jailed for causing havoc during the infamous anti-EDL-gathering in Bordesley Green in the summer of 2024.
Range Rover driver Adam Said was at the heard of disorder during an anti-EDL protest in Bordesley Green
Driving his friend’s Range Rover the then 19-year-old played a ‘key role’ in leading people through the streets, with passengers hanging out of the vehicle waving Palestinian flags.
Said was involved in three major flashpoints including reckless driving near a McDonald’s, blocking in a Skoda as others attacked it and dropping off people to join a crowd laying siege to The Clumsy Swan pub.
He was sentenced to two years and four months for violent disorder.
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A month earlier Amon Bahri, aged 20, from Solihull and Muhammed Ali, also 20, from Bordesley Green, were jailed for their respective involvements in the same chaotic scenes.
Both admitted violent disorder with Bahri receiving one year and nine months while Ali was sentenced to two years and six months.
In connection with the same civil unrest of last summer Birmingham rapper Omar Abdirizak made a threatening TikTok video about right wing activist Tommy Robinson.
Omar Abdirizak, the rapper known as Twista Cheese, arriving at Birmingham Magistrates’ Court(Image: PA)
The former English Defence League leader reposted it himself claiming it expressed a threat to his life due to ‘lies’ from certain corners of the media.
In the viral video Abdirizak, known as ‘Twista Cheese’, made references to artillery and performed a gun gesture while shouting ‘pow, pow, pow’.
The 32-year-old from Sparkbrook was found guilty of sending a message of a menacing character and in March this year he was sentenced to 20 weeks.
However, later in 2025 he was jailed for more than six years for attacking a petrol station worker with a make shift ‘flamethrower’ while warning ‘I’m a terrorist’.
Abdirizak, who has significant mental health issues, told police ‘Allah told me to do it’.
Jason Savage(Image: PA)
In one of the year’s most serious cases Jason Savage was sentenced to life for planning to attack a mosque in Small Heath in 2024.
The 35-year-old, who had converted to Islam, followed an ‘extreme and violent interpretation of the Salafi movement’.
He targeted a cleric he claimed was an ‘outspoken critic of Islamist terrorism and extremism’.
Shortly before his arrest Savage changed his WhatsApp name to ‘Lone Wolf’ and unwittingly told an undercover police officer he would ‘see him in paradise’.
He then filmed himself carrying out disturbing reconnaisance of the mosque and book shop he planned to attack.
Savage was found guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and was ordered to spend a minimum of 16 years in jail.
From his exceptional case to a crime which is much more common in Birmingham.
More than a decade on since the formation of Islamic State – remember them? – the city is still seeing young men being brainwashed by their brand of extremism.
In February 19-year-old Shaan Farooq was jailed for five years and six months having been previously found guilty of three counts of intentionally distributing terrorism material.
Police had raided his home in Saltley in July 2022 finding a phone, laptop and iPad with content supporting the banned organisation.
Rebecca Harris(Image: West Midlands Police)
At the other end of the extremist scale apparent far-right enthusiast Rebecca Harris was jailed for a variety of offences, including racial attacks against police.
After being arrested for a ‘threat to kill’ allegation, which ultimately wasn’t proceeded with, the 35-year-old went on to lash out and racially abuse officers.
Then at the station she began chanting ‘EDL’ and the name of it’s founder Tommy Robinson.
Those were not even the most serious of her crimes as months earlier Aston Villa fan Harris had slashed a man at The Gables Hotel in Solihull because he was a supporter of their rivals Birmingham City.
To cap things off she beared her backside to her judge and told him to ‘f*** off’ before he sentenced her for eight years and two months with an extended two-year licence.
Of course, racial tension is not confined to Birmingham, and neighouring towns and cities had high profile cases of their own.
Shakeel Yunis(Image: West Midlands Police)
Coventry dad Shakeel Yunis was jailed for 18 months over a TikTok rant.
In a three-minute video the 44-year-old dad accused a man of genocide over the Gaza conflict, allegeding he was a member of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Yunis also warned the man would be ‘dragged out of Nando’s’ in front of his family.
The victim was forced to move home and change his name out of fears for his own safety.
Yunis accepted he acted upon incorrect information and later issued a grovelling apology.
Meanwhile a number of people were sentenced for their involvement in riots outside a Holiday Inn in Tamworth, because it was being used to house asylum seekers.
And one of the most extreme cases to conclude in 2025 saw Callum Ulysses Parslow handed a life sentence for attempting to murder an asylum seeker at the Pear Tree Inn in Hindlip, Worcestershire.
Callum Ulysses Parslow(Image: PA)
The 32-year-old, who has Hitler’s signature tattooed on his arm, stabbed Nahom Hagos in April last year claiming it was a ‘form of protest’ against small boat crossings.
Parslow also tried to post out his own ‘terrorist manifesto’ on social media addressed to a number of high-profile figures including Tommy Robinson, Nigel Farage and Sir Keir Starmer. He was ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years and eight months.
Of course, the criminals listed above only represent a tiny minority among the millions of citizens from a multitude of ethnic backgrounds who manage to coexist peacefully.
But, if anything, they show that racial tension continues to bubble beneath the surface waiting to erupt at any given moment.