In the heat of summer, Britain is in flames. Far-right mobs have taken to the streets in multiple towns and cities, following a horrific incident in Southport, just outside of Liverpool, on 29^th July. In the attack, in which a 17-year-old went on a stabbing rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class, three children were killed, and ten other people – eight of whom were children – were critically injured.

The stabbings in Southport came quickly on the heels of a high-profile incident at Manchester airport on Tuesday 23^rd July, in which two young Muslim men were arrested for forcefully resisting arrest. Reports quickly spread that the incident was ‘Terror related’ (code for an ‘Islamic attack’), while footage originally released showed a police officer stamping on and kneeing the head of one of the men, who was lying prone and subdued. Footage later released showed the two men punching and scuffling with police, reportedly in relation to heavy-handed tactics relative to the issue of frisking their elderly mother. A female police officer suffered a broken nose in the incident https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c3gekjyq3j7o.

The earlier footage of the incident sparked a protest outside Rochdale (a town just north of Manchester) police station on Wednesday night and another in Manchester city centre on Thursday evening in which hundreds blocked roads and trams, carrying placards denouncing police brutality and racism.

These events followed disturbances in Harehill, Leeds, on 18^th July on the part of the Roma community in response to the forced removal of two young Romani children from their families by social services (https://www.errc.org/roma-rights-journal/forced-removal-of-romani-children-from-the-care-of-their-families). The incident sparked outrage amongst this often-targeted community, in which a police car was flipped on its side, riot police were pelted with missiles and a double-decker bus was completely burnt out. No officers were hurt.

Adding to the sense of ‘embattlement’, these events were placed in the context of the attempted murder of a British soldier in full military garb by a Black man in Kent, on Tuesday 23^rd July.

In all instances, news spread over the internet that ‘we all know what colour of skin’ the attacker would have and of what religion he would be. In the case of the Southport stabbing suspect, because the suspect was 17 years of age, his name and other details were not immediately released. This added to suspicion that the ‘deep state’ was concealing the truth. False claims were spread online that the suspect was a Muslin asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by ‘small boat’ and was on an M15 ‘watchlist’. Fake, ‘Islamic-sounding’ names were put forward. When the details were released, after the suspect was formally charged, it turned out that he was British-born, and with no discernible ties to Islam. Mental health issues have been cited.

Far Right Agitators

The role of far-right agitators has been a striking feature of the disturbances. A key factor in this has been the spread of online disinformation through platforms such X (formerly known as Twitter), Facebook, and Telegram. Particularly important here has been Elon Musk’s decision to allow right-wing activists such as Tommy Robinson (real name, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) and Andrew Tate back onto X. Musk is an associate of fellow Tech Bro Peter Thiel, who has been influential in promoting far-right populism in the US and who has openly called for the overthrow of democracy. Robinson, a rumoured Mossad operative, was permanently banned from the platform in March 2018 but was reinstated in November last year, after Musk bought it. It is notable that there had been a lack of serious disturbances of this type during this period.

In general, it is evident that the algorithms of X and Facebook seem to have promoted these accounts, and other well-known accounts, which post images of supposed Muslim, immigrant knife gang stabbings, decontextualised videos, and outright lies aimed at inculcating a sense of impending civil war. In particular, the repeated trope that Britain is being ‘taken over’ by ‘military age male ‘combatants’ keen to establish Sharia Law and to replace the white, Christian ‘native’ population. In a world of endless scrolling, such fake news has incendiary potential (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/03/the-far-right-has-moved-online-where-its-voice-is-more-dangerous-than-ever?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other).

An example of the misuse of social media was highlighted by police in Stoke-on-Trent, who were forced to deny a stabbing had taken place, countering claims made on social media: ‘[t]here is growing speculation that a stabbing has taken place as a result of the disorder today. We can confirm this information is false and no stabbings have been reported to police or emergency responders, despite videos fuelling speculation on social media,’ police said. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/03/government-warns-that-rioters-will-pay-the-price-as-wave-of-violence-sweeps-uk

It is also important to highlight the role of figures such as Nigel Farage, the slippery former leader of the Brexit campaign who now leads the Reform Party, which made its parliamentary breakthrough and took tens of thousands of votes from the Conservative Party in the recent UK General Election. Farage disgracefully maintained plausible deniability, while questioning ‘whether the truth is being withheld from us’, after the attack on Monday. It is worth noting that Farage’s rise to power follows decades of normalising and mainstreaming on the part of the British, mostly English, news media, and political class. He has notably been platformed more so than any other comparable political figure over the past decade, despite lacking political representation. Importantly, his politics have been echoed by members of the Conservative Party, concerned over losing votes to Farage’s right-wing parties.

Thugs ‘Want Their Country Back!’

Since the fatal stabbings in Southport last Monday, riots have been reported across many towns and cities in what has been a febrile political situation. Southport itself saw the first outburst, with far-right followers from across Northern England heeding Tommy Robinson’s call for ‘patriots’ to descend upon the town for a vigil for the murdered school children. The crowd, heavily reminiscent of the hay-day of EDL (English Defence League) and Football Lads Alliance, with their penchant for beer and cocaine, gathered outside Southport Mosque. In the ensuing violence, police officers were attacked with bricks, and the Muslim congregation remained trapped inside, in fear of their lives.

In London, on Wednesday, crowds of protesters marched on Downing Street. In Whitehall, demonstrators threw flares and cans while chanting ‘Rule Britannia’, ‘save our kids’, ‘stop the boats’, and ‘we want our country back’ while police were seen wrestling a man off the road and on to the pavement next to the Cenotaph. Others attempted to kick down a fence and were confronted by riot police, while some threw flares at the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square. Police said more than 100 people were arrested for offences including violent disorder and assault of an emergency worker while several police officers suffered minor injuries.

That evening, in Hartlepool, County Durham, another far-right protest took place, which resulted in eight people being arrested after police officers had missiles, glass bottles, and eggs thrown at them. Late in the night, a police vehicle was set alight in the town centre.

In Sunderland, in the Northeast of England, on Friday, about 500 people, including some parents with their children, gathered in the city centre, responding to far-right social media posts calling them to turn up and demonstrate. The gathering quickly descended into violence, with masked boys and men throwing missiles, including bricks, stones, beer cans, and scaffolding poles, at riot police. Ten people were arrested, and four policemen were taken to hospital, one seriously injured. A police station was ransacked, and a Citizens Advice Bureau was set alight.

The riots continued across the country over the weekend. In Leeds, on Saturday, about 150 far-right protestors descended on the city centre carrying St George’s Cross flags. The protesters were heard chanting ‘You’re not English anymore’ and ‘paedo Muslim’s off our streets’, while emboldened racists were caught making monkey gestures at counter-protestors.

In Manchester that day, two men were arrested outside the Holiday Inn as they threw bottles and bricks at officers who were in riot gear. A bus driver also appeared to have been assaulted by a group of young men who jumped in front of his double-decker bus on Grimshaw Lane. Greater Manchester police said a dispersal notice had been authorised for the city centre.

Several officers were also injured during serious disorder in Liverpool city centre, where far-right protestors advanced upon Abdullah Quilliam Mosque Liverpool Mosque, England’s oldest mosque, dating to 1889. Bricks, bottles, and a flare were thrown, and two officers needed hospital treatment.

In Bristol, police kept protesters and counter-protesters apart during running battles. The protestors later moved to a hotel used to house asylum seekers. Bottles were thrown and windows smashed.

In Hull, widespread disorder has been reported, with several shops broken into and set on fire. A Kurdish garage was destroyed following protests in which windows of a hotel that has been used to house migrants were smashed. Three police officers were injured and four people were arrested.

Scuffles broke out as opposing groups faced each other in Nottingham’s Old Market Square with bottles and other items thrown from both sides.

Bricks were hurled at police officers in Stoke-on-Trent.

The riots weren’t contained to England. In Belfast, in Northern Ireland Republican and Unionist protesters found common cause after 800 years of antagonism and armed struggle, with the startling sight of Irish Tricolours flying side-by-side with British Union flags. Unfortunately, this transcendence of division centred around the islamophobia of the far-right protests in England. In a day of friction, fireworks were thrown amid tense exchanges between an anti-Islamic group and an anti-racism rally as Muslim firms were targeted, and Bashir’s Belfast supermarket was burned to the ground.

The unrest is expected to continue, with far-right protestors setting light to a hotel used to house asylum seekers, some of whom remained in the hotel, in the town of Rotherham, near Sheffield, on Sunday afternoon, at the time of writing (https://x.com/I_amMukhtar/status/1820092049460494815).

Popular Front Response

In an attempt to deal with the disorder, the Labour Government has said that courts will be open 24 hours. The government, however, has been slow to use extremism powers, and even slower to speak of extremism. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, eventually addressed the nation today, speaking of ‘far-right thuggery’…and promising that ‘convictions will follow’. This intervention was the least that could be expected, where reference was eventually made to ‘those who feel targeted because of the colour of your skin or because of your faith’.

In scenes not seen for decades, people of colour are being randomly attacked on the street. The ‘P-word’, an insult aimed at those of Pakistani heritage has been a common refrain, as have Nazi Flags, Nazi salutes, chants of ‘Allah, Allah, Who the Fuck is Allah?’.

A particularly shocking video in the city of Hull, of a car, driven by a person of colour being set upon, smashed and set alight. The mob tried to pull the driver out of the car to shouts of ‘fuckin’ kill ‘em’! (https://x.com/DillyHussain88/status/1819824525288088020). This adds to footage in Manchester which shows a Black man being brutally attacked by racist thugs in full view of the police, who eventually intervened after an Asian man intervened to help prevent the thugs’ attack.

With real echoes of the experience of living with the National Front in the 1960s and 70s, BAME (Black, Asian, and Ethnic Minority) groups are speaking of the need to ensure safety, of not going in groups smaller than four, etc.

The far-right protests have been met with resistance. Initially small, in Southport, but increasingly large, particularly in cities such as Liverpool, Bristol, and Leeds. In Blackpool, a far-right rally coincided with an anti-fascist punk convention with scuffles in the street and bloodied faces. Shouts of ‘nazi-scum off our streets’ and ‘Say it loud, say it clear, refugees are welcome here’ were heard in Leeds. In Bristol, it was anti-fascist protestors who prevented a racist mob from breaking into a hostel housing asylum seekers. In most places, anti-racists outnumbered the far-right.

Although racial violence and intolerance are not reducible to economics, it is clear that the new Labour government’s austerity-lite politics will do little to improve the situation in the short or medium term. What is required is a return to the wide-scale anti-fascist politics of the late 1970s and 80s where the Anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism focused the anti-fascist presence. It will be important to join local anti-fascist groups such as Anti-Fascist Action, Hope Not Hate, Love Music Hate Racism, and to develop a deeper and more widespread societal mobilisation against fascist street violence that also puts pressure on the government to call out racial violence for what it is as well as to create the economic conditions that might help to prevent any further rightward mobilisation.