The 1981 Handsworth riots were three days of rioting that took place in the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England in July 1981.^[1] The major outbreak of violence took place on the night of Friday 10/11 July, with smaller disturbances on the following two nights.^[2]

The riots were characterised by the Scarman report into the 1981 riots in England as "copycat riots" – taking place after the Brixton riots in London, and around the same time as the Toxteth riots in Liverpool and the Moss Side riots in Manchester – though some have argued that this is an oversimplification.^[1] The immediate flashpoint was an attack on a locally well-known Police Superintendent who was trying to calm rumours of an impending march by the right-wing National Front.^[1] The following disturbances resulted in 121 arrests and 40 injuries to police officers, alongside widespread damage to property.^[3]

Before the riots Handsworth had been considered to be a good example of successful community policing, though local Black British youths later disputed the claim that relations between them and the police had been amicable: around 40% of them had been stopped and searched over the previous 12 months.^[1] Handsworth had a mixed population of white, black and Asian residents, but surveys after the riots showed little evidence of significant racial tension.^[3] A week before the riots, during the weekend that saw CS gas used against rioters for the first time on the British Mainland in Toxteth, Liverpool, a reporter from The Times had visited a festival in Handsworth Park and found "8,000 people, black and white" in "a spirit as amiable and peaceful as a rural village fete".^[4] The most common reasons for the riots reported by participants were unemployment, boredom and the imitation of events elsewhere.^[3]

• 1981 England riots
• 1985 Handsworth riots
• 1991 Handsworth riots
• 2005 Birmingham race riots
• 2011 UK riots