Riots have spread across several U.K. towns and cities following the killing of three children, Alice Aguiar (9), Bebe King (6) and Elsie Stancombe (7) and the injury of several others during a knife attack in Southport on July 29.
Disinformation and, presumably, misinformation that an undocumented migrant and Muslim was behind the attacks spread quickly on social media. The main suspect in the case is neither Muslim nor an asylum seeker but 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, born in the U.K. to Rwandan parents who arrived in the country in 2002.
Also Read : U.K. grapples with its worst riots in 13 years spurred by far-right agitators
Following the Southport murders, rioters attacked a mosque in the town while people were inside it. Riots spread to other places in England, including Liverpool, London, Middlesbrough, as well as in Northern Ireland.
On Sunday, August 4, 2024, a mob of 700 far right rioters had descended upon the Holiday Inn in Rotheram which housed asylum seekers, smashing its windows, entering the premises, and lighting fires outside. They had also attempted to set the building on fire as per the police. Britain has not witnessed such riots since 2011, when a Black man was shot by police in London.
In response to the threat of far right riots, hundreds took to the street in Birmingham on the evening of August 5, including some waving Palestinian flags, following reports that far right protestors had planned a march there. A group of Muslim youth attacked several vehicles and a pub, The Clumsy Swan, in Birmingham. On Tuesday, several members of the local Muslim community posted a video with the pub staff , in which they apologized for the group’s violence.
Starmer emphasises ‘law and order’, protection of minorites
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s response thus far has emphasised that his government is strong on law-and-order matters. The Prime Minister, a former public prosecutor, has honed a centrist image , and his Labour party campaign had promised that it would “return law and order to our streets”.
After an emergency ‘Cobra’ high level emergency meeting on Monday, Mr. Starmer said a “standing army “ of public duty officers would be established. It is unclear where these units will be located and how they will be deployed but 6,000 police officers were mobilized for more than 30 gatherings planned for Wednesday. There are plans for courts to be kept open extra hours and 567 prison places have been made available. As of this wring, between 400 and 500 individuals have been arrested. On Tuesday, Jordan Palour became the first person to be convicted on grounds of racial hatred, after he posted messages on Facbook and attacked a hotel with asylum seekers.
“I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder,” Mr. Starmer said on Monday, adding that attacks on Muslim communities would not be tolerated. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, said “far right extremism, racism and Islamophobia” would not be tolerated as she announced special protection for mosques across the U.K.
Apart from maintaining law and order and fending off racism, The Labour Party may need to win some trust back from Muslim communities, whose support for the party weakened, as indicated in the July 4 general election. Part of this was owing to Mr Starmer and the party’s position on Israel and Gaza which was seen as too favourable towards Israel.
“I’m sure that a tiny part of their thinking is that this is an opportunity to win some [ support from Muslims] back (though that seems unlikely with the war in Gaza still raging),” political scientist Anand Menon who heads the UK in a Changing Europe think tank told The Hindu on Monday, August 5.
“I think the dominant incentive, because Labour has traditionally been vulnerable on law and order, is to restore order to reassure a far larger section of voters,” Mr. Menon added.
Accusations of two tier policing from the Right
With regard to law and order, the notion of “two tier policing” appears to have seeped further into the public consciousness over the last few days. This is the suggestion that the same standards of policing are not applied equally to everyone. However, the magnitude and extent of the violence seen in the far-right activities in recent days has been significantly greater and different from anything seen thus far in the periodic protests in London in solidarity with Palestine earlier this year, i.e., in the context in which the term has recently been used.
This has also been the current U.K. government’s stance. Justice Secretary Heidi Alexander called the accusations of differential policing a “completely baseless assertion” when speaking to the BBC on Tuesday, August 6. She and Mr. Starmer are among those who have said these are not protests but instances of rioting and criminal violence.
Elon Musk and the role of disinformation
The role of disinformation and misinformation, and specifically social media site X, have been central to the unfolding of events over the last few days. X owner Elon Musk has also directly waded into the conflict – even as he was being challenged on the other side of the Atlantic on X’s Grok AI chatbot providing false information on the presidential election process.
“Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?” Mr. Musk said on X, in response to a tweet by Mr. Starmer that said the UK government would not tolerate attacks on mosques or Muslim communities.
On August 4, Mr. Musk responded to a video of fireworks being set off by rioters, saying “Civil war is inevitable.” He tweeted ‘#TwoTierKier’ on August 6 in the context of the Birmingham pub attack.
In the coming days the U.K. government will seek to step up its response to online disinformation – which is not only a growing problem but also one that evolves constantly. In addition to Mr. Starmer’s assurance that those responsible online would be held to account, the U.K. Technology Secretary Peter Kyle met with X, Meta, Google and TikTok “to make clear their responsibility to continue to work with us to stop the spread of hateful misinformation and incitement”, Mr. Kyle said via a statement on Monday.
Ms. Alexander said that the Online Safety Act needed constant review as technology evolved. Tommy Robinson, former leader of the far right English Defence League was among those stoking tensions online.
Rhetoric on migration provocative
While prominent opposition politicians have condemned the riots, their past rhetoric is linked to what is unfolding. Former U.K. Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak and former Home Secretary Priti Patel, both of whom were immigration hardliners have called out the rioters. However, during his term as Prime Minister, Mr. Sunak frequently used the phrase ‘Stop the boats’ to describe his migration strategy. Now, this has become a phrase chanted by rioters.
Suella Braverman, who termed migrant arrivals an ‘invasion’ and made fighting illegal migration a focus of her tenure as Home Secretary during in the Sunak government has been low key in terms of commentary on the riots. Ms Braverman had previously used the term ‘two-tier policing’ and resigned in November 2023 after accusing the police of bias.
“I don’t care what your political beliefs are. If you are responsible for these disgusting acts, you should be locked up,” said Tom Tugendhat, who is competing with Ms Patel and others to lead the Conservative Party.
Nigel Farage, whose anti-immigrant Reform UK party, won 14% of the vote share (and five seats in the House of Commons), condemned the violence but also said “uncontrolled” immigration, legal and illegal, was fracturing communities and alleged ‘two-tier’ policing.
Hate crimes and migration
Hate crimes in the U.K. have steadily increased in every year, bar one (2022/23), since government data became available in 2012/13. Both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia had been on the rise in London following the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and Israel’s prolonged and ongoing retaliation on Gaza. Sharp divisions on migration, as well as the spillover of international events into the UK, could possibly be raising the temperature between communities.
Migration has also been a key issue in the recent U.K. elections. Some 52% of Britons (Ipsos survey, February 2024) say immigration is too high and this is reflected in the positions of both Labour and the Tories. It is therefore all but certain that a conversation and government decisions in this area are imminent, although they may be pushed down the line until tempers cool.
U.K. travel Impact
The U.K. as a destination for tourism, travel and education has been impacted, at least in the short term. India joined several other countries – e.g., Canada, Nigeria, the UAE, Australia, Malaysia – warning its citizens of the risks of traveling in the U.K. right now.
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