UK's night of destruction as racist mobs rampage after Southport stabbings

Far-right violence erupted in parts of Britain for a second night in a row on Wednesday, with an Asian man assaulted by a mob and scores of policemen injured.

On Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned "mosques being attacked because they're mosques" and vowed to keep all citizens safe. 

The racially fuelled attacks were triggered by online misinformation after a stabbing attack left three children dead and eight others injured at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the town of Southport on Monday.

Although police and the media reported that the 17-year-old suspect in the attack was born in Cardiff, misinformation spread rapidly online that he was a Muslim "illegal immigrant", sparking an attack on a mosque in the same town and subsequent riots.

On Thursday, the suspect was named as Axel Rudakubana, after reporting restrictions preventing him from being named were lifted and he appeared in a Liverpool court to face charges.

Just hours earlier, crowds took to the streets on Wednesday evening across London, Hartlepool, Hampshire and Manchester, with many clashing with police officers.

In the northeastern seaside town of Hartlepool, where a mob hurled glass bottles and eggs at officers and set a police car on fire, a man who appeared to be South Asian was punched in an apparently unprovoked racist attack. 

Video footage shows the man walking alone down the street, before being punched in front of a crowd by a white man in a baseball cap. 

The Asian man is seen turning and walking back in the direction that he came from, as others in the crowd shout “this is our town” and hurl racial slurs at him.

These disturbances come a day after hundreds of masked rioters besieged a Southport mosque, where they destroyed a wall outside the mosque, smashed some of its windows, hurled plant pots, bricks and empty bins at riot police and set a police van on fire. 

The mosque’s imam was trapped inside for hours, later saying he was terrified the mob would “burn the place down” while he was in there. 

The crowd, which could be heard chanting anti-Muslim slogans, vandalised nearby businesses too. 

It was composed of English Defence League (EDL) supporters, according to the police.

Online misinformation campaign

Social media personalities, including fugitive far-right activist Tommy Robinson, former GB News presenter Laurence Fox and influencer Andrew Tate, were involved in spreading the misinformation to millions of people. 

Some of it was traced back to a website called Channel3Now, which claims to be a US-based news organisation but is accused of being run from Russia. It began 11 years ago as a Russian YouTube channel. 

'We are not Russian based or [have] any affiliation with any Russian media or sources'

– Channel3Now, one source of a false name of the suspect

Channel3Now was the original source of a viral claim that the Southport attacker’s name was Ali Al-Shakati. 

Its claim was repeated on Tuesday by Russia Today, the country’s state broadcaster, which has since added an editor’s note to its article noting that the outlet has retracted its claim. 

Channel3Now told Middle East Eye over email on Wednesday: “We are not Russian based or any affiliation with any Russian media or sources.”

On Thursday, Sir Richard Dearlove, a former head of MI6, claimed that Russian fake news about the stabbings formed part of Vladimir Putin’s “grey warfare” against Britain. 

Flares thrown at Downing Street gates 

In London, around a hundred people were arrested on Wedneseday evening as protesters threw flares at the gates of Downing Street and were filmed scuffling with police.

Nearby, for reasons that remain unclear, crowds threw flares at a statue of Winston Churchill, Britain’s widely revered wartime prime minister. 

🚨BREAKING Far right protesters in London have broken through police lines to show their respect to the victims of the tragedy in Southport by chanting “Oh Tommy Tommy” and setting off smoke bombs next to a statue of Winston Churchill pic.twitter.com/xyiLxT4Pvz

— Stand Up To Racism (@AntiRacismDay) July 31, 2024

Some protesters were seen wearing T-shirts demanding that Nigel Farage be appointed prime minister, while others donned red caps bearing the slogan “Make Britain Great Again”, in apparent reference to Donald Trump’s well-known line.

“Over 100 people have been arrested for offences including violent disorder, assault on an emergency worker, and breach of protest conditions,” the Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday night, after the crowd dispersed at around 10pm.

Hotels besieged and passersby assaulted

Meanwhile, in the northwestern city of Manchester, a mob of around 40 people, including several children, besieged a Holiday Inn hotel housing asylum seekers. 

Members of the mob pelted passersby with beer bottles, while others smashed the wing mirror of a bus and were seen dragging a man out of the vehicle and physically attacking him. 

Does Labour even care about regaining the trust of British Muslims? 

Read More »

And in Aldershot, in the southern county of Hampshire, an anti-immigrant protest outside a hotel “descended into intimidating behaviour”, according to local MP Alex Baker.

But the most violent disturbance occurred in Hartlepool, where an Asian man was assaulted and a police car was set on fire.

Masked men were filmed shouting racist chants and fighting police officers with wooden bats.

Others were seen singing in praise of far-right icon Robinson, who is believed to be in hiding in Europe, having fled the UK on Sunday to "put himself beyond the reach of [UK] authorities". Robinson was due in court over alleged contempt proceedings. 

The mob was filmed smashing a window of a house and attempting to kick in its door.

The local Salaam Community Centre, which holds interfaith events and supports refugees, reportedly came under threat as well, and was defended by police officers. Eight arrests were made.

Starmer yet to condemn Islamophobia

Prime Minister Keir Starmer met senior police officers in Downing Street on Thursday afternoon to address the disorder.

On Tuesday night, he had vowed that those responsible for “violence and thuggery” in Southport would “feel the full force of the law”.

But Starmer has since been criticised by some commentators for failing to highlight the anti-Muslim and racist bigotry that appears to have fuelled the disturbances.

It also appears the prime minister has not met with Muslim community leaders. 

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner on Wednesday suggested that social media misinformation was causing the unrest, and that the Home Office would “be looking at” whether the EDL should be proscribed under terrorism laws.

That same day, Humza Yousaf, the Muslim former first minister of Scotland, blamed the disorder in Southport on “the far-right's hateful ideology” and urged the government to proscribe the EDL.

The EDL, founded in 2009, is a far-right anti-Muslim group formerly led by Tommy Robinson, until he stepped down in 2013.

However, in a press conference on Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Starmer did not suggest he would seek to proscribe any organisation - despite being asked whether he would seek to ban any groups.

He pledged to establish a new national violent disorder unit, and took aim at social media companies for not doing enough to counter misinformation - although he did not name any particular company.

And while not mentioning Islamophobia in his address, he condemned "mosques being attacked because they're mosques". 

When asked by Shehab Khan of ITV what he had to say to British Muslims, the prime minister said: "The far right is showing who they are. We have to show who we are in response to that and that's why we've pulled together this response this afternoon, to try and coordinate and make sure that as we face the next days and weeks we have the strongest possible response in order to ensure there's safety for all our citizens, including those Muslims who will see, as you rightly say, attacks on their mosques because they're mosques."

The Muslim Council of Britain said on Wednesday night that it has written to the home secretary “seeking reassurance for the protection of mosques and communities”.

This comes as Nigel Farage, newly elected MP for Clacton and leader of Reform UK, is under fire over a video he posted on Tuesday suggesting the “truth is being withheld” from the public about the killings. 

Farage, who was dubbed this week as “Tommy Robinson in a suit” by the husband of an MP killed by a far-right attacker in 2016, has since defended his remarks and doubled down on them.