Opinion: Shocking Sunderland scenes will not divide us

I've lived in Suffolk for nearly six years now. It's easily the longest I've been in one place since I left my childhood home. I'm settled here and have made a life for myself in this great part of the world.

But if home is where the heart is then part of my heart will always be in Sunderland, with its breathtaking beaches and friendly faces. It's where I was raised, where I went to school, where I met my friends.

People protest in Sunderland city centre (Image: Scott Heppell/PA Wire)

But on Friday night, my heart was broken as I heard about the senseless violence and thuggery on the streets I used to walk.

These aren't the people of Sunderland I know. Where is the warmth? The friendliness?

Seeing the destruction unfold filled me with fury, horror and disgust.

People protest in Sunderland city centre (Image: Scott Heppell/PA Wire)

I'm a Sunderland supporter through and through. I've been there from the highs of a cup final at Wembley to the lows of League One, something Ipswich Town fans know all too well. It's easy to disassociate yourself from news you don't want to hear, but seeing a yob, his face covered in a balaclava, wearing Sunderland's new home kit brought a new wave of shame.

If supporting a football club is like having a family, then these were my brothers and sisters, destroying our city for no reason.

Because let's ask ourselves this: What was the end goal here?

They've burned police stations, attacked innocent passersbys and made thousands feel unsafe in their own city.

People protest in Sunderland city centre (Image: Scott Heppell/PA Wire)

If the goal was to make people, whoever they may be, feel unwelcome, then the response from the honest, respectable members of society will counter that tenfold.

As the violence was unfolding on Friday night, plans were already being put in place to clean up and help the next morning.

Most importantly, and what has been long-forgotten by these mindless idiots, is that none of this will help the innocent young victims of a horrendous attack 150 miles away. It doesn't matter to them that the basis on which they're 'protesting' is a lie which has been disproved repeatedly.

These are people desperate for a reason to cause destruction. They were ready for it. After all, how many people do you know who own a balaclava?

I'm pleased there has been no such wave of hatred here in Suffolk.

It didn't matter how much politicians and so-called patriots tried to divide us, time and again the people of this county have opened their hearts and rejected bigoty and racism.

You have to wonder, how on earth did we get here? Whether it's racism or transphobia, social media in particular is a cesspit of disgust and has been well before Elon Musk turned Twitter into a haven for the Far Right.

Sociologically speaking, the answer is fairly straightforward.

Between the Covid pandemic, cost of living crisis and the shambles Brexit has been, people are fed up. They want change and they want a villain to focus their anger on.

And some people are more than happy to give them one.

Former Ipswich MP Tom Hunt lost his seat last month. (Image: Archant)

Look no further than in Ipswich. Before former MP Tom Hunt was booted out of office by voters last month, he spent years stirring up division. Exhibit A: The Novotel.

How much of Mr Hunt's departure was down to his thoughts on Rwanda is impossible to say. After all, the Tories gave voters countless reasons not to vote Conservative.

Asylum seekers were housed at Ipswich's Novotel for around a year (Image: Google Maps)

Labour's victory has heralded in a new dawn in government. It's naïve to think the far right thugs will disappear overnight, but we have to hope we've finally turned a corner into becoming an inclusive society once more.

Until then, we will stand together and show these scumbags that hate will never win.

The Sunderland I know and remember is filled with friendly, welcoming, inclusive people.

I see those same hearty smiles in Suffolk. Maybe that's why I feel so at home here too.

The opinions expressed in this column are the personal views of Reece Hanson and do not necessarily reflect views held by this newspaper, its sister publications or its owner and publisher Newsquest Media Group Ltd.