The UK riots – reflecting on a week of chaos

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Warning – article contains discussion of sensitive racial/religious issues and violence

What happened in Southport, on the morning of Monday 29th July, was a tragedy. Those seven letters aren’t enough to capture the horror of the attack. But no words are enough. They all fall short. How do you adequately describe the emotional shrapnel of a 17 year old man storming a children’s dance class, brutally stabbing eleven children and two adults, and killing three little girls?

Yet the Southport stabbing is the beginning, not the end of the story. A slaughter that should have been followed by a period of mourning and reflection was instead followed by a week of chaos, thuggery and cynical opportunism largely spurred by online disinformation.

In the immediate aftermath of the attack in Merseyside, the police withheld details of the suspect. We now know this is because the accused, Axel Rudakubana, was under 18. But nature abhors a vacuum, and in the absence of officially sourced facts, a tidal wave of disinformation and speculation hit social media.

Social media platforms, especially X and TikTok, became awash with false claims that the suspect was a Muslim immigrant, who had come across on a small boat and was already on an MI6 watchlist. Major figures in politics and media including Nigel Farage and Andrew Tate, further spread these lies. Some, like Tate, expressed them with arrogant confidence, whereas others like Farage would preface his statements with “some are saying” – weasel words to allow wiggle room if the incendiary information he was sharing to his 2 million followers turned out to be untrue. Which of course it did. In truth the suspect was a Christian, born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents, living in Lancashire. Yet the damage had been done. 

Social media platforms, especially X and TikTok, became awash with false claims that the suspect was a Muslim immigrant.

It started in Southport itself, riots erupting overnight as an angry mob threw bricks and bottles at a mosque and police officers, setting alight a police van and sending 27 officers to hospital. The next day, violent protests broke out in London, Hartlepool and Manchester, with far-right crowds targeting mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers. Fanned on by figures such as EDL founder Tommy Robinson, the flames of disorder continued to spread. In Rotherham, hundreds of thugs stormed and attempted to torch a Holiday Inn Express, and in Belfast, a café and a supermarket were petrol bombed. Similar scenes spread to Sunderland, Manchester, Plymouth and more.

The disorder appeared as though it might reach a culmination point yesterday, August 7th, as reports emerged of nearly a hundred planned anti-immigration protests across the UK. But in the end, it was something of a damp squib. 

As morning broke, reports of disorder were minimal. Largely this was due to the stellar efforts of the police, who were mobilised at a level not seen since 2011. But it was also because, quite simply, the turnout of the so called ‘patriots’ was embarrassingly low. In most towns, they were vastly outnumbered by counter-protestors. Remarkable pictures emerged from Brighton, where thousands of counter-protestors faced off against five or six deflated looking opponents. Similar images emerged from Walthamstow, Liverpool and Bristol.

It was certainly the case in Southampton city centre, where I was last night to report on the expected disorder. Having seen the videos of chaos across social media, I was braced for a volatile situation. It was anything but. Walking down to Grosvenor Square, I found myself swept along by a crowd of peaceful counter-protestors, holding placards reading ‘refugees welcome here’ and ‘say no to fascism’. We moved down a side street, where a police enforced gap of around twenty metres separated us from a meagre crowd of flag-draped demonstrators.

Chants rang out – ‘racists, go home’, ‘where’s tommy?’ and (particularly rousing) ‘EDL, suck your mum’. The crowd on our side of the divide outnumbered the opposition at least 5:1, but the passion and volume was at an even greater multiplier. With the exception of one keen woman waving a huge St George’s flag, the protestors looked deflated, embarrassed, and like they rather wanted to go home.

It seems as though we get a false impression of the strength of the far-right faction when we see the media images of the huge mobs that gathered in Southport or Rotherham, or at crowds gathered for Tommy Robinson events. Often, protestors are bussed in, or travel hundreds of miles by train to bolster these crowds, and when there’s only a few events to gather at, they can certainly pull together impressive numbers. But they overstretched themselves yesterday. When divided across dozens of demonstrations, in many cases their numbers were bordering on the pathetic. And when outnumbered to such a degree, there was little worry of violence. Across the country, those cowards who find it easy to surround a single mother or a lone black man balked at the sight of 10,000 strong crowds.

Those cowards who find it easy to surround a single mother or a lone black man balked at the sight of 10,000 strong crowds.

When reporting on riots that are in part the result of media polarisation and online disinformation, it is vital to take a nuanced and measured tone. Of course, not every protestor was an evil racist, in the same way that not every counter protestor was a benevolent angel. There have certainly been idiots on both sides – from the counter protestors beating a man in his 50s in Birmingham to the public figure spreading false reports on a Muslim woman being attacked with acid. It is also legitimate to express concerns about uncontrolled mass movement, with net migration reaching a record 685,000 last year.

But whatever your stance on immigration, there is absolutely no excuse for the level of violence, intimidation and thuggery that has occurred over the last week. How can shop looting, arson attacks on food banks, and the beating of innocent people be carried out in the name of loving your country, and in the name of three dead children? People of every colour and creed have the right to feel safe, and any actions that threaten that right are to be condemned, unequivocally.

So what can we learn from this? Well firstly, just because the protests last night fizzled out, doesn’t mean that this is over. The anti-immigration protestors have a tendency to bounce back. But one thing we must learn from the past week is this – social media needs to be legislated and policed much more carefully. Violence and disorder that would have likely occurred anyway was made ten times worse by online disinformation, and years of echo chamber algorithms cementing extreme views among social media users.

Violence and disorder that would have likely occurred anyway was made ten times worse by disinformation, and years of echo chamber algorithms cementing extreme views among social media users.

The term ‘new town square’ is often used to describe social media, but it is a misnomer. How many people can you fit in a town square? Certainly not the 15 million who viewed Andrew Tate’s diatribe of bullshit on the identity of the Southport attacker. Social media companies need to be held legally responsible for the content on their platforms. Verification checks need to be much more rigorous. And those politicians and commentators who have spent years dogwhistling and pandering to the far-right, need to consider the consequences of their actions.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised, you can contact wellbeing services at wellbeing@exeter.ac.uk or call the Samaritans at 116123.