Far-right riots and anti-racist counter protests spread across the UK

Riots involving hundreds of far-right anti-immigration protesters have erupted in several towns and cities in the UK, days after false information spread rapidly on social media about the murder of three young girls in a stabbing attack that took place in Southport on July 29.

There has been unrest in Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester, London, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool and Belfast, with missiles thrown, shops looted, hotels housing refugees and mosques vandalised and police attacked in some places, according to BBC reports.

When UK police arrested and charged a 17-year-old boy for the stabbings but didn’t name him due to his age, false information about his identity was spread across social media.

The rumors, spread by far-right influencers, such as Andrew Tate,  claimed that the perpetrator was a Muslim immigrant who arrived to the UK on a boat. Those generating the misinformation even supplied the suspect with a fake name, Ali Al-Shakati.

But this weekend, UK police made the suspect’s name public following a judge’s decision to counter the disinformation, according to CBS. He was identified as Axel Rudakubana, born in Cardiff, Wales to Rwandan parents who are not Muslim.

However, it seems like the damage is done and the spreading of disinformation can’t be reversed by revealing the suspect’s identity,  as anti-immigration and racist riots continue under the slogan ‘Enough is Enough’.

“There’s a parallel universe where what was claimed by these rumors are the actual facts of the case,” said Sunder Katwala, director of British Future quoted by the Associated Press.

Photo: far-right rioter arrested wearing racist mask.

Anti-racist counter protesters however, have also come out to confront far-right rioters. In Liverpool, for example, as far right protesters shouted islamophobic slurs and threw bricks at police, anti-racist protesters lined up in Lime Street chanting “refugees are welcome here”, the BBC reported.

In Middlesbrough, an anti-racist group chased away rioters that tried to attack a mosque, according to Sky News reports.

Authorities have been alerting mosques against possible attacks. The day after the stabbings, bricks were thrown through the windows of Southport local mosque where a number of Muslims were taking refuge behind locked doors, according to the BBC.

Far-right rioters have also attacked at least three hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, Tamsworth, and Manchester, according to Sky News.

Local Manchester counselor John Flanagan wrote on social media, “I’d like to condemn these mindless thugs, attacking innocent men who are asylum seekers. They have been there for months and we have not had any issues or problems,” reported The Guardian.

UK officers have sustained serious injuries coming from far-right rioters including fractures, lacerations, a broken nose, jaw and concussion, Merseyside Police said told AP.

At least 250 people have been arrested across the UK in relation to the far-right riots.

"I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder. Whether directly or those whipping up this action online, and then running away themselves," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a TV address on Sunday.

Former senior Scotland Yard officer and counter-terrorism boss, Neil Basu, was reported in The Guardian saying, there were “real world consequences” when public figures failed to “keep their mouth shut”, regarding the spread of disinformation in social media.

The online speculation that fueled the riots was spread by Nigel Farage, Reform UK leader and Member of Parliament, whose party won 14% of the vote in the July General Election. He is now being accused of creating conspiracy theories and irresponsible behavior, according to The Guardian.

On July 30, a day after the fatal stabbings, Farage posted a video on social media, posing the question of “whether the truth is being withheld from us,” adding that it was “quite legitimate to ask questions.”

An emergency meeting will be held in Downing Street today after far-right rioters attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers resulted in refugees sleeping “in the woods” to escape the attacks, according to Sky News.