Far-right violence erupts in UK in the wake of mass stabbings

Riots have broken out across the UK in the wake of the mass stabbings in Southport, Northwest England at a Taylor Swift dance summer camp that left three children dead and eight children injured, five critically, with two adults in a serious condition.

The police have arrested and charged a 17-year-old boy for the crime, on three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder. Due to his age, his identity has been kept under wraps, but police made it clear this was not being treated as a terrorist attack.

Disinformation has since been spread like wildfire online  generated by far-right influencers who picked up on a post on a Russian-linked fake news website, social media account Channel3 Now, according to the Daily Mail.

A post on X from Sunder Katwala, the director of British Future, a think tank on integration and national identity, states, "The spread of the misinformation to large numbers of people involved the efforts of Andrew Tate, and the social media accounts operating in the name of Tommy Robinson."

The rumors claim that the perpetrator is a Muslim immigrant who arrived in the UK on a small boat. Those generating the misinformation have even supplied the 17-year-old with a fake name, Ali Al-Shakati.

This is despite the fact it has been widely reported in the British media that the police revealed the boy’s parents are originally from Rwanda – where only 2% of the population is Muslim – and the boy was born in the UK.

The speculation was further fueled by comments from 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.

Former senior Scotland Yard officer and counter-terrorism boss, Neil Basu, is reported in The Guardian saying, there were “real world consequences” when public figures failed to “keep their mouth shut.”

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.”

The unfounded rumors triggered an onslaught of far-right violence in Southport just as hundreds of stunned and grieving locals gathered for a peaceful vigil for Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, the three little girls killed, and the others injured in the worst attack on children since the 1990s in the UK.

Bricks were thrown through the windows of the local mosque where a number of Muslims were taking refuge behind locked doors, according to the BBC. Police vehicles were set alight and bottles thrown at police, 39 of whom were injured in the violence.

Officers “sustained serious injuries including fractures, lacerations, a suspected broken nose and concussion,” Merseyside Police said, as quoted by AP.

Assistant Chief Constable Alex Goss of Merseyside Police issued a statement saying, “There has been much speculation and hypothesis around the status of a 17-year-old male who is currently in police custody.”

“Some individuals are using this to bring violence and disorder to our streets. We have already said that the person arrested was born in the UK, and speculation helps nobody at this time.”

But the rumors have continued to fuel the violence which spread on July 31 across the country with 100 people arrested in Whitehall, London, protesting under the slogan Enough is Enough.

The Metropolitan police are reported in The Guardian, saying: “Over 100 people have been arrested for offences including violent disorder, assault on an emergency worker, and breach of protest conditions. Some officers suffered minor injuries.”

There were chants in the crowd of “We want our country back,” and “Oh, Tommy Robinson,” in reference to the ultra-right activist, reports The Guardian.

In Manchester, protestors gathered outside the Holiday Inn hotel in Oldham which houses asylum seekers in what “appeared to be a stand against asylum seekers currently being housed in the hotel,” according to Manchester Evening 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,” reports The Guardian.

The counselor added, “We cannot allow our country and our city to descend into anarchy, which seems to be being driven by madness on social media.”

Meanwhile in Hartlepool, similar scenes played out, with violence erupting on the streets against police officers who were forced to dodge bottles and missiles hurled at them.

“There’s a parallel universe where what was claimed by these rumors were the actual facts of the case,” said Sunder Katwala, director of British Future is quoted saying by Associated Press. “And that will be a difficult thing to manage.”

Never miss a story! Click here to follow The Daily Digest.