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Date: 08/08/2024
Where:
Country: United Kingdom
Who’s involved:
English Defense League, football hooligans, Tommy Robinson, Civil Newsgroups, disinformation campaigners and others.
What happened?
On 29/07/2024, a tragic stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport resulted in the deaths of three young girls. Eight other children and two adults were injured, with some still in critical condition. The perpetrator, identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, is now in custody until October 2024. Rudakubana, born and raised in the UK, and of Christian Rwandan heritage, had his identity initially withheld due to his age.
In the aftermath of the knife attack, social media accounts speculated that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker that recently arrived in the UK. This story is false, but was quickly picked up by rightwing groups, generating a stream of anti-immigrant and Islamophobic posts on social media, calling for the organization of anti-migrant riots. Plans of engaging in violent gatherings, including the locations and times for the riots, were spread on social media and messaging apps in advance to the riots.
One such riot took place on 30/07/2024, when a large crowd clashed with the police in Sunderland, resulting in more than 50 officers injured. Rioters threw bricks, fireworks, and rocks at a mosque, set a police car and a building on fire, and chanted "we want our country back." The unrest spread to several towns and cities across England, like Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham, Bristol, and London. Rioters attacked migration centers and hotels housing asylum seekers too. To date, far-right riots have impacted around 20 towns and cities across the UK.
On 02/08/2024, Prime Minister Keir Starmer met with local leaders in Southport to discuss support for the local community, a day after he announced a new “national capability” to tackle disorder. The new measures will allow the sharing of intelligence, improved facial recognition technology and criminal behavior orders to restrict travel to troublemakers.
After chairing a second meeting of the emergency response committee on 05/08/2024, Starmer reassured the public saying that perpetrators will be dealt with the “full force of the law”. Over 400 people have been arrested since the riots started and around 100 people have already been charged over the violent unrest.
On 07/08/2024, after police warned of unrest from planned far-right rallies at 100 locations, thousands of counter-protesters peacefully took to the streets in over a dozen cities, in solidarity with immigrants and ethnic minorities. Forming human shields around asylum centers, they held “refugees welcome” signs and chanted “there are many more of us than you”. However, in most areas they found no far-right supporters to oppose. This was not the first such demonstration. Violent clashes between far-right rioters and Muslim counter-protesters had already taken place a few days earlier in Bolton.
Analysis:
After a week of widespread unrest, the UK is facing the worst anti-immigrant violence since 2011, when a deadly police shooting of a black British man in North London led to lengthy riots in the capital. Back then, it was again Keir Starmer, then Director of Public Prosecutions, who led the prosecutions of offenders. He is now facing a similar crisis just one month after his election, and he is responding in the same way, possibly allowing courts to be open for 24 hours.
Disinformation campaigns focussing on immigration also played a key role during the time of the Brexit vote in 2016. Misinformation on the UK’s future as an economic success, dictatorial EU laws, immigration and crime were coupled with a surge of national pride. This has put a focus on the importance of English pride and resulted in the perception that immigrants would endanger English culture and traditions.
Prominent politicians within right wing groups in the UK have reacted to the riots in different ways. Many elected officials have completely condemned the anti-immigrant riots. However, while condemning the riots, some right wing politicians stated that the riots were evidence of the way in which migration was affecting UK society. It's mainly the head figures within far right groups and extreme right groups organized through online platforms that have been supportive of the riots and don’t refrain from the use of violence. However, the majority of the society in the UK is not supporting the violent riots, with many people stressing that the rioters are not representative of the UK as a whole.
The UK is currently experiencing the biggest increase in poverty since 30 years. People are facing rises in the costs of living, with healthy affordable food becoming less accessible. People feel stuck in a difficult situation and those negative feelings are acknowledged within the anti-immigrant rhetoric by projecting them onto the ‘other’. Especially the leader of the far-right English Defence League, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon operating under the alias Tommy Robinson, has played a key role in spreading Islamophobic and anti-immigrant disinformation, calling for the deportation of immigrants and provoking violent riots. It is believed that Robinson has close links to the Kremlin.
The situation might develop in different ways. One scenario is of a heavy judicial response, and that the loose organizational structure of the riots may dissipate. Hundreds of people have been arrested so far. Starmer has vowed to “take all necessary measures” to end the chaos. The UK's former head of counter-terrorism suggested treating the attacks as acts of terrorism. At present, police presence has been reinforced, thousands of specialist officers have already been deployed as a “standing army” to deal with more potential riots, and trouble hotspots.
However, challenges are likely to persist. UK prisons are facing an overcrowding problem. The UK Ministry of Justice reported on 02/08/2024 that only slightly more than a thousand spaces were available across prisons in England and Wales, following the Secretary of State for Justice announcement that the UK prisons were on the point of collapse, and operating at 99% capacity, last July 2024. Underfunding of the UK's public services is an additional challenge for Starmer.
Another possible scenario is that unrest will continue, evolve into mass rallies and riots against prosecuting demonstrators, as people who take part in acts of hatred form strong group identities. Large scale counter protests are taking place and rioters have already clashed with the counter protesters in various locations across the UK. As the counter protests are growing in size, there is a possibility that clashes between rioters and counter protesters will escalate in the near future.
