UK riots: How far-right actors capitalized on public anger

Parts of the United Kingdom have been engulfed in rioting since a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the northwestern English town of Southport killed three girls and injured several others.

The suspected perpetrator was later revealed to be Axel Rudakubana, a 17-year-old born in Cardiff, Wales, to Rwandan parents. But protests in response to the attack took on quite a different dimension, transforming into an ethnic or sectarian clash.

On one side were far-right supporters and local, predominantly white communities; on the other, immigrant-related targets, particularly in the Muslim community. 

Hotels housing asylum seekers were set on fire, public buildings were damaged and police stations were attacked by throngs of agitators in various parts of the country. Masked, predominantly Asian men were also spotted in social media clips strolling the streets. 

Many people asked whether the violence was planned or arose spontaneously and haphazardly. And how did a knife attack at a dance class, carried out by a 17-year-old from Cardiff with Rwandan parents and of nominally Christian belief, turn into riots that targeted predominantly Muslims? 

The UK's protective reporting laws initially barred the police from releasing the name of the knife attack suspect, a minor, which was something the far right capitalized on.

Rosa Freedman, a professor at the University of Reading, told DW that in the absence of the name of the attacker, the far right had a chance to blame it on their favorite enemy: Muslim immigrants.

"The far right spread rumors that he was an irregular migrant, that he was a Muslim," she told DW. 

She said that while that itself didn’t cause the riot, it lit the spark of the fear and hatred "that has been whipped up in the UK by the previous Conservative government, some of the newspapers, as well as far-right groups since before Brexit."

By the time a judge lifted the anonymity of the attacker's name, the UK's new and old far right had gathered enough momentum for their campaign, mostly online.

Hope not Hate, an anti-racism charity, said in a statement that the far right organized a flurry of demonstrations across the country "on a broad anti-migrant, anti-Muslim and anti-multiculturalism agenda.’’ The organization added what unfolded was"the worst wave of far-right violence in the UK post-war."  

The UK's new far right

The new far right in the UK is a smorgasbord of smaller groups, often individual actors who are online phenomenons. They have outsized influence due to their ability to tap into some genuine complaints online but mostly use social media to provoke bigotry against immigrants and Muslims. 

A key player in the UK's far-right ecosystem is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon,  who has adopted the name Tommy Robinson. 

He is a former member of the far-right and fascist British National Party (BNP) and a co-founder of the English Defence League (EDL), a far-right, anti-immigrant group. 

The BNP does not have a single elected representative in the UK, and the EDL has long been deemed defunct. And yet, according to Merseyside police, EDL supporters were prominent in a clash with officers posted outside a mosque in Southport earlier last week. British media reported that the government is pondering whether to proscribe the group as an extremist organization. 

The EDL was established in London in 2009, and many of its followers were football fans who believed that Muslims could never be truly English. Football hooliganism has a long association with far-right activity in the UK, though the association has declined since the hooligans' heyday in the 70s and 80s.

Yaxley-Lennon continues to be an influential figure among EDL supporters and disseminates his anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and anti-police message through his 900,000 followers on X.

In a post on X on August 2, he seemed to hail the attack on a police station and said, "You should've listened @Keir_Starmer," tagging the British Prime Minister's account. 

Andrew Tate, a British-American social media influencer currently awaiting trial in Romania on rape and trafficking charges, has also accused the police in the UK of siding with immigrants and Muslims — he himself is mixed race and has declared himself to be a Muslim convert. He was among the first to start the rumor that led to the recent violence, suggesting the Southport attacker had "arrived on a boat a month ago."

In a post on X, he shared an image of a brown man on a rubber dinghy holding a knife in one hand and British pounds in the other. The post said, "Typical man from Cardiff."

Police mistrust sown by far right abets violence and hatred 

Sowing mistrust against the police and tarnishing its credibility is another tactic widely being adopted by all hues of far-right actors in the UK. Experts said this turns the people against the law enforcement agencies and encourages them to resort to violence.

Matthew Hankinson, a convicted member of the neo-Nazi group National Action, which was banned by the British government in 2016, attended the Southport riot and reportedly argued in favor of killing corrupt police officers. He accused the police of oppressing people merely protesting the murder of "white children," according to the BBC. 

Nigel Farage, the leader of the Reform Party, also seems to have deliberately created doubts about the information shared and questioned the police's sincerity. He said he wondered "whether the truth is being withheld from us."

Paul Golding, co-leader of another far-right fascist political party called Britain First, posted more tweets questioning the fairness of the police. Experts said such accusations against the police are often linked with anti-Muslim content to deliberately drive a false link. 

The far right is thankful to Elon Musk

Elon Musk, the owner of X, has emerged as the biggest supporter of the UK's far right. Last year, Yaxley-Lennon thanked Musk for reinstating his account on X after he was banned for posting hateful content.

In a controversial move, Musk posted that a "Civil war is inevitable" in Britain. 

When Starmer took to X to assuage the concerns of the citizens, saying, "We will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities," Musk started a war of words by insinuating the PM wasn't interested in the safety of all communities. 

Golding of Britain First piggy-backed on Musk’s questioning of the prime minister and posted that Musk was "exposing Keir Starmer" with a clapping hand emoji.

In a note titled "Violent disorder driven by disinformation and social media rumors,"BJ Harrington, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for public order, said: "Disinformation is a huge driver of this appalling violence, and we know a lot of those attending these so-called protests are doing so in direct response to what they've read online.

"Often, posts are shared and amplified by high-profile accounts. We’re working hard to counteract this."

He asked people to "please pay special attention to what you read, share and believe from online sources."

Edited by: Davis VanOpdorp