Explained: What’s behind the anti-racism protests and riots in the UK?
PTC News Desk: Parts of the United Kingdom have been engulfed in a wave of rioting that was ignited by a deadly attack at a children’s dancing event and further fueled by a deluge of false information.
A community grieving the loss of three young girls has descended into anarchy across the country, with far-right organisations using the opportunity to foment violence against Muslims and immigrants.
What set off the demonstrations
Three little girls, ages six to nine, lost their lives on July 29 in Southport, northern England, at a dance party with a Taylor Swift theme. Two adults and eight other youngsters were also stabbed and taken to the hospital. After being taken into custody, the attacker, Axel Rudakubana, 17, was charged with three charges of murder, ten counts of attempted murder, and one crime of possession.
Wales’ Cardiff is the birthplace and upbringing of Axel Rudakubana. But bogus claims that he was an immigrant who practiced Islam spread rapidly on social media. The next day, violent anti-Muslim rallies in Southport were sparked by this false information, and there was even an attempt to assault the neighbourhood mosque.
Spread of the riots
A swarm of enraged protestors stormed Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Downing Street office on Wednesday night, expressing their fury over immigration and calling for the government to take action. As demonstrators fought with police and threw flares and smoke canisters in the direction of the prime minister’s mansion, the crowd’s cries of ‘Save our kids’ and ‘We want our country back’ rang out through the streets.
After a night of violent unrest, the Metropolitan police reported 111 arrests and five injured officers. This follows the first protests on Tuesday in Southport, which resulted in the injuries of over fifty police officers and the burning of police vans.
Since then, there have been riots in more than 20 British cities, including Belfast, Sunderland, Manchester, and Plymouth. Hundreds of protesters have engaged in confrontations with police, vandalised stores, and targeted immigrants or Muslims.
Who is behind the riots?
Keir Starmer accuses “far-right thuggery” of being behind the recent attacks. Well-known opponents of immigration and Muslims, such as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, are charged with disseminating misleading material to exacerbate tensions. Social media companies have come under fire for their failure to stop the dissemination of misinformation, which has greatly aided in the propagation of these false narratives.
Far-right agitators from outside the area made up the majority of those participating in the clashes, according to police. But, according to authorities, some persons with local issues or young people looking for excitement also entered the conflict. To counter them, anti-fascist organizations and counter-protesters have assembled.
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The motivation behind the riots
Numerous rioters who identified as “patriots” asserted that a large immigrant population was damaging British society. They contended that politicians favored immigrants and that immigration encouraged crime and violence. Rights organizations and anti-racist groups, however, dismissed these accusations as unfounded and suggested that the real motivation was radicalism disguising itself as patriotism.
Government’s response
In reaction to the recent disturbances, the Starmer-led administration moved quickly, sending specialised cops and opening up over 600 more prison spaces to keep the situation from getting out of control. For violent disruption, a 58-year-old British man was also sentenced to three years in prison.
The government is also going against people who incite trouble via social media; one man was charged for inciting racial hatred on Facebook by using threatening words. In an effort to stop online incitement and the dissemination of misleading information, Science Minister Peter Kyle has met with officials from significant tech firms, including TikTok, Meta, Google, and X.
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