Written by Anoushka Patel Edited by Queenie Lin and Annika Lilja
For the first week of August, cities were engulfed in violence, as riots spilled out across the country. The catalyst for these riots? The murder of three young girls – Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine – in an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga event on July 29th. Misinformation spread quickly online falsely naming the perpetrator of the crimes as a Muslim asylum seeker, who had come to the UK in 2023. In fact, according to Merseyside Police, the attacker was a 17-year-old Welsh male, born to Rwandan parents.
However, the truth of the attacker’s identity did not stop far-right activists and hooligans from rioting, setting cars alight, torching businesses and attacking police officers with bricks, bottles, smoke bombs and other weapons.
Of all the violent scenes in UK towns and cities, one of the most shocking happened in Hull - when an angry crowd of white men surrounded and attacked a car with Eastern European men inside. Footage acquired by BBC Verify showed the crowd charging toward a silver BMW and forcing open its doors and assaulting those inside.
These recent attacks have heightened fears amongst the Muslim community. During the riots, mosques – Muslim places of worship – were vandalised. At a Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, which is home to around 200 asylum seekers, windows were smashed, and the building was set on fire.
More broadly, misinformation has also been spread that wrongly suggests levels of immigration and violent crime are linked, and incorrect claims have been made on social media platforms such as Facebook and X, claiming that foreigners, notably Muslims, present a threat to children. Police and politicians are accused of failing to protect those who view themselves as the indigenous population - white Britons. Often, unevidenced claims of “two-tier policing,” in which officers are more lenient towards protests carried out by ethnic minorities, are also peddled by far-right figures on social media.
Such social media “keyboard warriors,” as Home Secretary Yvette Cooper put it, include Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, more commonly known by his alias Tommy Robinson. Yaxley-Lennon, the former leader of the far-right English Defence League (EDL) and an organiser of far-right protests, fled to Cyprus, the day before he was due to appear in court over a major legal case against him.
Even Elon Musk, the CEO of social networking platform X, weighed in on the riots, suggesting that “civil war is inevitable” and repeating unsubstantiated claims of “one-sided” and “two-tiered policing” in a series of posts. These accusations have been vehemently rejected by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, whose spokesperson said there was “no justification” for Musk’s comments.
Thus far, more than 400 people have been arrested, and over 100 people have been charged, according to BBC News. Courts are working overnight to sentence those who have been involved in the disorder and are “likely to be dealt with within a week,” according to the Prime Minister. Starmer has labeled the rioting as “far-right thuggery,” promising charges and convictions for those involved, "whatever the apparent cause or motivation" and taking aim at those who he accused of “whipping up this action online.”
The motivation for these riots has been put down to concerns over the rise in immigration and the impact it can have on deprived communities where public services are under immense strain. There are also questions about the effect on community cohesion, and what is seen as a lack of cultural assimilation from certain ethnic groups.
The evidence shows that across the political spectrum, people currently hold significant concerns over the rising numbers of both legal and illegal immigration levels. An Ipsos survey taken in February found that 52% of people are in support of reducing immigration levels. Two years earlier, only 42% had agreed.
As to whether frustration with immigration levels will lead to a “civil war” as Elon Musk suggested, thus far, it would appear that the UK has not reached such a boiling point.
Communities braced for a night of disorder on August 7th, after a list of potential rioting events circulated online. However, in most places, the planned anti-immigration protests failed to materialize. Instead, in a show of solidarity with affected communities, people amassed as part of peaceful counter-demonstrations. Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley told the BBC that as a result of “the show of force from the police and frankly the show of unity from communities...the fears of extreme right disorder were abated.”
Sources:
Cook, Victoria. “Police thank London for unity and ‘community spirit.’” BBC News, 8 Aug. 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clynl0eegv3o
Culley, J and Khalil, H. “Southport stabbings - what we know so far about knife attack.” BBC News, 31 July 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy68z9dw9e7o
Quinn, B. “Are the authorities powerless to stop Tommy Robinson’s online output?” The Guardian, 6 Aug. 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/06/are-the-authorities-powerless-to-stop-tommy-robinsons-online-output
Rhoden-Paul, A., Gerken, T. and Fraser, G. “Musk targets PM again after criticism of UK ‘Civil War’ post.” BBC News, 5 Aug. 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ydddy3qzgo
Sardarizadeh, S. et al. “How eastern European men in a BMW were attacked during violence in Hull.” BBC News, 6 Aug. 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj622z0w7n0o
Skinner, G. et al. “Ipsos/British Future Attitudes towards immigration tracker.” Ipsos, 28 Feb. 2024, https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2024-03/immigration-tracker-2024-charts.pdf
Whitehead, J. and Walsh, A. “Starmer promises communities ‘will be safe’ after emergency meeting on UK riots.” BBC News, 5 Aug. 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cw5yyynpwnzt
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