This short report was first published as a lead story for our Nouseletter.
More than 250 people have been arrested in riots across a dozen UK cities this weekend, with 147 arrested in less than 24 hours. Keir Starmer has dubbed the riots as “far-right thuggery”.
However, he faces criticism, including from York students on social media, for not labelling rioters as terrorists, or doing enough to highlight the islamophobia fuelling the unrest. The government called an emergency COBRA meeting this morning, police rapid response teams have been introduced for UK mosques, and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper promised a “reckoning” for rioters and those who had instigated violence online. 4,000 riot police have been deployed nationally, including police dogs and horses.
In nearby Hull, shops were looted by demonstrators yelling “stop the boats”, and social media footage showed a grey car being destroyed by rioters, who attacked the man inside and shouted racial slurs. During the rioting on August 3, several fires broke out across the city, doctors were unable to access the hospital, and all trains in and out of Hull were cancelled.
In Rotherham, a crowd of 700 vandalised and set fire to the Holiday Inn Express on August 4. Counter-protestors were surrounded and racially abused, while police were initially overwhelmed. Bricks were thrown at riot police and many children took part in the riots. Oliver Coppard, mayor of South Yorkshire, declared that without the intervention of riot police, 200 migrants would have been burnt to death in the hotel.
On 3 August in Leeds, a group of 150 far right protestors were seen firing flares and hurling racial abuse in the city centre. They were vastly outnumbered by counter-protestors. The groups were kept apart by riot police, but several were arrested as individuals clashed after the demonstrations took place.
Members of UOY Palsoc attended counter-protests in Middlesbrough yesterday, announcing on social media: “we are here to resist fascist violence in Middlesbrough today and stand in solidarity with the Muslim community. We say no to fascism, no to racism.” The fronts of houses were smashed by far-right rioters, and cars were torched. Shops run by foreign nationals were targeted, and social media footage showed masked men running a makeshift checkpoint, interrogating drivers on their nationality and race.
The riots have evolved out of far-right demonstrations in reaction to the recent Southport murders, where three young girls were stabbed to death at a dance class. The suspect, Axel Rudakubana, 17, was born in Britain to Rwandan parents. Misinformation about his identity, specifically his religion and name, was amplified on X by figures like Tommy Robinson and Andrew Tate. This misinformation prompted Islamophobic and anti-immigrant demonstrations by far-right groups, organised on social media and via physical flyers. A large proportion of these rioters are not locals and have travelled into cities to demonstrate.
It is important to note that Rudakubana was raised in a Christian household, and is not a Muslim immigrant.
Elon Musk, the owner of X, has remained silent apart from commenting that “civil war is inevitable” under a post that suggested the rioting was caused by open borders and mass migration.
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