How far-right disinformation triggered an Islamophobia riot in the UK

A horrific stabbing attack in an English seaside town swelled into a shocking Islamophobic riot after anti-Muslim disinformation spread online and was picked up by right-wing influencers.

More than one hundred people clashed with police outside a mosque in the town of Southport near the city of Liverpool in northwest England on Tuesday night, as right-wing protesters hurled bricks at police and set a vehicle on fire.

Hundreds of men shouting anti-migrant and Islamophobic slogans gathered on a street and broke into a violent riot with dozens of police officers.

Some shouted “we want our country back” and “Allah, Allah, who the f**k is Allah?” according to local reporters, while bricks were hurled at Southport Islamic Society mosque.

The incident shocked the local community and was condemned by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said that the rioters would “feel the full force of the law”.

The riot came after three children were killed and eight others wounded in a stabbing attack on Monday at a kids Taylor Swift-themed yoga class.

Police arrested a 17-year-old man from Lancashire in connection with the stabbing incident and the investigation is ongoing.

However, in the aftermath of the attack and the suspect’s arrest, false accusations rapidly spread on social media attributing the attack to an unknown person with an Arabic-sounding name.

It led to a wave of Islamophobic and ant-migrant abuse as it was picked up by influential online profiles, even as Merseyside police stated the incident or the suspect had no links to terror or Islam.

The only information the police released about the suspect is that he is 17 years old, was born in Cardiff and lived near Southport.

But online influencers like Andrew Tate, known for his misogyny and xenophobia, shared false information, as did other UK and US right-wing accounts with millions of followers.

Right-wing MP Nigel Farage of populist party Reform UK also incited misinformation by suggesting that authorities were withholding the "truth" about the suspect.

In an online post earlier on Tuesday, he questioned why the attack was not being treated as terror-related and asked whether the individual was under watch by the UK's intelligence agencies.

This spiralled into the far-right march on Tuesday night that horrified a quiet town already in grief, with over one hundred mask-wearing demonstrators attacking a mosque and clashing with police officers on a Southport street.

NEW: A police van has had its windscreen smashed by bricks. Smoke bombs, bins and bottles been thrown at the police from close quarters. Some chanting “Allah. Allah. Who the **** is Allah” pic.twitter.com/FMqrD05kzq

— Josh Halliday (@JoshHalliday) July 30, 2024

The Muslim Council of Britain said “bigots” had exploited the stabbing tragedy “to attack Muslims” and condemned far-right leaders such as Tommy Robinson, who peddled much of the abuse and misinformation.

“Southport’s tragedy was shamelessly exploited to spark outrage, with Islamophobia fuelling the fire and leading to tonight’s violence,” the MCB said in a statement on Tuesday.

The MCB, which is the country’s main Muslim body, said the far-right had a “growing intimidatory presence” in the UK and are aided by sections of the “increasingly right-wing media, whose agenda has always been to scapegoat Muslims for society’s ills”.

Disinformation specialist and university professor Marc Owen Jones debunked the accounts that shared false information that the attacker was Muslim.

Owen-Jones said that there was a “clear attempt to exploit the tragic incident by right wing influencers and grifters pushing an anti-immigrant and xenophobic agenda despite there being no evidence”.

More than 50 police officers were injured in the riots as protesters threw bricks and glass bottles. A police vehicle was surrounded and set on fire by groups.

🧵1/ Thread on the #Southport anti-migrant and anti-Muslim disinformation and propaganda. In this thread I highlight key spreaders of disinformation, the chronology, and some points about some of the inauthentic activity evident. I will focus on X. pic.twitter.com/FepWxb402p

— Marc Owen Jones (@marcowenjones) July 30, 2024

More than a hundred men gathered on the road for a far-right march, which quickly descended into violence, according to reports. Bricks and glass bottles were hurled at police, with 27 taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Footage shared online showed bins being set on fire and rioters ripping bricks off walls to hurl. The police said on Wednesday they had made four arrests in connection with the violence and are looking for more suspects.

The day after the riot, dozens of community members came to clear up the mess and expressed upset at the violence, the BBC reported.

Liverpool Region Mosque Network condemned the riots and said that a “minority of people” were attempting to portray the horrific stabbings as “related to the Muslim community”.

“The mosques and the communities they serve across the Liverpool City Region are shocked and horrified by the heinous acts of murder and indiscriminate violence against the young children and adults who attended the dance school in Southport”.

British Muslims have been facing increasing hate crimes in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war, according to charities.

Tell Mama said that anti-Muslim hate had tripled in the four months since 7 October. Muslim women are targeted in most of the recorded incidents. while over half were cases of hate speech on social media.