By Aysu Bicer
LONDON (AA) – A storm of anti-Muslim disinformation on social media has fueled Islamophobic and far-right violence in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing attack in the northern English seaside town of Southport.
A mob of up to 300 people including members of the English Defense League – an anti-Muslim far-right group – targeted a mosque in the town near Liverpool on Tuesday night, attacking police officers, torching cars and destroying properties.
More than 50 police officers sustained injuries, including fractures, cuts, and concussions, drawing vehement condemnation from top politicians, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Violence has since spread to other areas, with hundreds of far-right supporters clashing with police in central London late Wednesday, injuring more cops and leading to more than 100 arrests.
In the town of Hartlepool in northeast England, unrest continued into the early hours of Thursday as people set ablaze a vehicle and rioted in and around Murray Street, an area where Muslims live and there is a mosque.
The rioting has been primarily fanned by online misinformation regarding the identity of the attacker who killed three minor girls and injured five other children and two adults at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class on Monday.
False reports spread by extremist far-right social media accounts suggested the suspect was a Muslim and a migrant, claims that were reflected in the mob’s Islamophobic vitriolic chants.
Police have so far said the suspect is a 17-year-old man who was born in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, and lived in a village near Southport.
Serena Kennedy, chief constable of Merseyside Police, warned there is a risk of more violence and riots in the coming days, citing intelligence about further protests “potentially into the weekend.”
“We are planning now for the next 24 hours, but also into the weekend and into next week,” she told reporters.
Steve Rotheram, mayor of the Liverpool City Region, acknowledged the grave threat posed by rising far-right extremism in the UK and throughout Europe.
“We see far-right extremism across Europe, and we’re no different. We need to ensure that we counter some of the fake news and the false narratives that these people rely on to try and get support,” he said in response to an Anadolu question.
As for the rioters, he said they were not locals, but rather outside agitators who “went back to different places in the UK.”
“We know that the social media posts were trying to stir up a number of white, right-wing extremists to come here and to create those sorts of scenes that we all witnessed,” he said.
- ‘Muslims have absolutely nothing to do with this’
In Southport, residents have banded together to support the Muslim community and clean up the town.
Dozens gathered outside the Southport Mosque with brushes and shovels, clearing bricks from a wall knocked down by rioters.
Ibrahim Hussein, head of the Southport Mosque, expressed gratitude to the police and other community members: “We came under attack for absolutely no reason. We don’t even know who did this evil action .... We would like to thank the police very much, because they took a lot of casualties, and they didn’t need to.”
He also believes the rioters were not from Southport.
“They’re coming from outside, obviously helping each other and texting each other and telling each other to come and meet here and destroy this building and destroy the people here,” he told Anadolu.
“Definitely Muslims have absolutely nothing to do with this. We were devastated when the attack happened on Monday, like everybody else … We wanted to help and support and pray for these people who suffered in this community … but instead we have to face this prejudice.”
Faruq Ahmed, the muezzin at the Southport Mosque who performs the call to prayer, echoed Hussein’s views.
“Our community and our neighbors are very helpful. We are Muslim people. Our religion is very peaceful. We don’t support this villain. We are very upset about these things that happened. I’ve lived in Southport for the past about 40 years. Nothing like this has ever happened,” he said.
- ‘We’ve never had this kind of racism and violence’
Other Southport locals also expressed their shock and dismay at the “racism and violence.”
“We’ve never had this kind of racism and violence. It’s hard to understand,” Tony Young, a resident, told Anadolu.
However, he stressed that the community has put up a strong show of unity by “coming together and supporting one another.”
Gwynneth Dixon, another local, said she had “never seen this kind of hatred.”
“There was absolutely a big wall of hate walking down there, absolutely overwhelming, and then the violence that followed,” she said.
“I was aware of people coming back from the vigil, and the next thing I know there’s a mob shouting racist slogans and throwing things over there, and it just escalated and escalated. It was horrible and horrendous, and so scary and so evil.”