Dr Amir Khan has said he feels “really vulnerable” speaking out about far-right unrest in the UK as he does not want to expose himself to “racist attacks”.
The TV doctor, who was born in Bradford to Pakistani immigrants, said he is fed up with being seen as “the right kind of Asian” for being a GP but praised anti-racism protesters for coming out en masse against racist mobs.
Speaking on ITV’s Lorraine programme, the doctor said: “To see people in such numbers demonstrating against hatred and division says more about British values than anything violent far-right mobs have done in recent days.”
Thousands of anti-racism protesters outnumbered far-right opponents on the streets of Britain last night, as those behind rallies targeting immigration centres tried to backtrack on their plans.
Asked by presenter Christine Lampard what he made of the events of the previous night, which were unexpectedly calm, Dr Amir said: “It was really positive, we were prepared for more violence, tensions were high.”
He added that he was pleased to see “British values” in action.
Pictured: Dr Amir Kahn spoke of his personal fears amid the far-right unrest, discussing his own experiences of being considered “the right kind of Asian” for being a doctor.
Thousands of anti-racism protesters outnumbered far-right opponents on the streets of Britain last night, as those behind the rallies targeting immigration centres tried to backtrack on the planned gatherings.
Christine noted that Dr. Amir had been feeling the political tension in the country.
She said: ‘I know, Dr Amir, that you’ve found it really hard to even talk about this because of that feeling of insecurity, maybe because of how your family feels just shopping, you’ve been really struggling this week with that.’
He replied: ‘It’s been tough and it’s been difficult to talk about it because any person of colour like myself who comes out publicly against racism or against these racially aggravated far-right attacks, puts themselves in a very vulnerable position.
‘Not only because of the physical violence of those people, but because of the online hate, I’ve experienced that before.
‘I thought a lot about it before talking about it today because I didn’t want to reach that level of hatred that I felt before when I talked about these things.
‘But I’ve come to realise that my feelings are not as important as those of a large number of black and brown people in Britain right now.
“There is a feeling that because of these riots, people of colour like me are not truly British. These rioters will say that to be British is to be white.
“And that people like us are simply tolerated as long as we conform and stay within certain limits.
‘The moment we are too Asian or too black or speak out against structural racism or talk about these issues, we are playing the race card or worse, we are told to go back to our own country.
Dr Amir, pictured right, speaks to Lorraine presenter Christine Lampard. He decided to speak out about the riots, despite having received criticism in the past for speaking out on racial issues.
A man holding an England flag looks out at a large crowd of anti-racism protesters in Finchley.
Hundreds of anti-racism activists have gathered in Walthamstow to defeat far-right thugs
“I was born here, this is my country and I want to make it better and more tolerable, but it is incredibly difficult to talk about it, more than that, it is exhausting.”
Christine then asked what the impact of racially aggravated unrest has been on the NHS, with almost a quarter of its workforce made up of black and ethnic minority groups.
She said: ‘People of colour make up a large proportion of the NHS, particularly in clinical work.
‘If we said we didn’t feel safe going to work, the NHS would grind to a halt, but we continue to go to work, despite fears for our own safety.
‘In general practice in particular, we’re in a room one-on-one with every patient and we treat everyone exactly the same, no matter what colour their skin is, but a patient can come to see me today and feel empowered by what the far right is doing and could easily attack me violently.’
“We also do home visits alone, so we have had to take certain precautions.”
However, he felt the risk would be less for him since being a doctor makes him the “right kind of Asian” in the minds of the far right.
“People might tell me, ‘We’re not talking about you, Amir, you’re the right kind of Asian.'”
‘When people talk to me about being the right kind of Asian, it really bothers me because they put a value on my presence here based on my job and what I contribute to society, and white Britons don’t have that same pressure.
“I have to constantly justify my presence in this country.”
He added that if he were the victim of a far-right mob, “they wouldn’t stop me and ask me what job I have.”
A man wrapped in an England flag stands facing police officers in Southampton, as a large group of anti-racism protesters gather behind him.
A huge crowd of anti-racism protesters in Walthamstow, vastly outnumbering the hateful thugs who planned to protest outside an immigration centre.
A large gathering of anti-racist protesters outside St Anne’s Centre in Toxteth, Liverpool
Anti-racist activists flock to Birmingham to disrupt alleged far-right rally
“They will see the colour of my skin and most likely they will violently attack me, that is really hard.”
On Wednesday night, thousands of counter-protesters took to the streets in several UK cities, outnumbering “anti-immigration” demonstrators, to send a clear message that Britain does not welcome hate.
Around 100 hate-fuelled protests were planned across the country on Wednesday, many of them masterminded by now-dismantled far-right groups, with police deployed in their biggest mobilisation of resources since the 2011 riots.
Undaunted and red-faced protesters have taken to social media to retract their claims, now saying there was never a plan to attack refugee centres to waste police time.
But the Telegram group responsible for sharing an alleged list of refugee centres for thugs to target was removed by the typically unrelenting team behind the encrypted messaging app, which said it violated its rules on inciting violence.
The protests came as dozens of arrests were made and dozens of convictions sealed in a short space of time, following more than a week of unrest after three young women were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on July 29.
Police have also vowed to crack down on those who spread hate and incite unrest online.
Police have today launched dawn raids against “seriously violent” thugs involved in the riots, as a crackdown on the far right begins following last night’s foiled chaos.
Sir Mark Rowley said his force had raided the homes of the “most violent” members of last week’s protests in Whitehall and branded them “criminal thugs”.