Why The UK Has Been Overwhelmed By Anti-Muslim Riots
(EXPLAINER) Riots have erupted across the United Kingdom over the past week as far-right groups launched attacks against hotels housing asylum seekers and on mosques.
A heavy security presence on Wednesday and a series of arrests across Britain have prevented a repeat of widespread rioting involving racist attacks targeting Muslims and other migrants that started late last month.
After police deployed in force and thousands of counter-protesters took to the streets on Wednesday, threats of widespread gatherings by anti-immigration groups never materialized.
READ: Vatican Responds to Olympics Opening Ceremony Controversy
Nonetheless, authorities remain on high alert after what has been one of the most violent weeks to take place across Britain in years.
Here’s a look at what triggered the violence — much of it pitting British far-right groups against Muslims — and the fallout that has taken place over the last week:
Axel Rudakubana, pictured when younger, has been remanded in youth detention. (Photograph via the Liverpool Echo)
How did the protests start?
Three girls between the age of 6 and 9 were killed on July 29 during an attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event for children in the seaside town of Southport. Eight other children and two adults were injured in the attack that took place in northern England.
Police arrested a 17-year-old male. Soon after the arrest, false information circulated on social media that the suspect was a Muslim migrant. That quickly escalated to a series of anti-Muslim protests in Southport the following day. As a result, rioters attempted to attack the town’s mosque.
The teen has since been charged with murder and attempted murder. Authorities said the attacker was born in Britain. The attack has not been treated as an act of terrorism.
Authorities even took the unusual step on Aug. 1 of identifying the underage suspect in an effort to stop the rumors about his identity.
The suspect, Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, was born in Wales in 2006 and moved to the Southport in 2013. His parents were originally from Rwanda. His religion remains unknown.
Police have been trying to quell rioting for more than a week. (Image via YouTube screenshot)
Where has the rioting taken place?
The violence quickly spread past Southport and across England and Wales. The day after the Southport riot, thousands gathered near Prime Minister Keir Starmer's Downing Street office in London. More than 100 arrests were made following clashes with police.
Over the past week, there have since been riots in more than 20 locations across the UK: Sunderland in northeast England and Manchester in the northwest to Plymouth in the southwest and Belfast in Northern Ireland.
A majority of the protests have involved a few hundred people — many of whom are far-right extremists — targeting Muslims. Cars have been set ablaze and stores looted, while bricks and bottles have been thrown at mosques and police officers.
Some migrants have retaliated against the protestors, causing the rioting to escalate. Overall, authorities said 400 people have been arrested since the protests started.
Anti-immigrant sentiment has grown across the U.K. in recent years. (Image via Youtube screenshot)
Why are people protesting?
Starmer, who took office just a month ago, said the violence was the result of “far-right thuggery.”
High profile anti-immigration and anti-Muslim activists such as Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — known as Tommy Robinson — have promoted the protests in online forums. He’s been accused by politicians of peddling misinformation to inflame tensions. In return, Robinson has accused the media of lying about him.
Many involved in the protests call themselves patriots who argue that high levels of immigration have undermined British society in recent years.
In a YouGov poll published earlier this week, three-quarters of those surveyed said the rioters did not represent the views of Britain as a whole. Only 7% said they supported the violence.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has condemned the violence in the strongest terms. The head of the Anglican Communion said the rioters “defile the flag they wrap themselves in.”
“Social deprivation does not in any way justify this violence,” he added.
In a bid to quell the violence, the U.K. government has vowed to arrest not just the rioters, but those who use social media to spread trouble.
Social media videos have encouraged likeminded people to engage in the types of unrest they see online, said Stephanie Alice Baker, a sociologist at City University of London who studies crowd behavior and far-right political groups.
“There is always a tipping point where people feel emboldened and enabled to act on those feelings, and it’s typically when they see others doing the same thing, right?’’ she told The Associated Press.
Rioters have capitalized on long-simmering tensions over immigration. More recently, the growing number of migrants who have entered the country illegally by crossing the English Channel has been a cause of frustration for many across Britain.
Melanie Phillips, a British journalist and commentator, wrote on her Substack page that left-wing politicians had created the conditions for the riots.
“The issue of Muslim aggression that underlies them is ignored or censored. Problems with Islamic religion or culture are regarded as taboo; the issues are discussed in euphemisms,” she said. “Anyone who does speak plainly about such matters is immediately hung out to dry as ‘right-wing’ or ‘far-right,’ the incoherent labels that are fixed onto anyone who contradicts left-wing dogma in order to stigmatize and silence them as social pariahs.”
She added: “This is not to excuse what has happened in the current riots. The anti-immigrant violence has been appalling; the targeting of the Muslim community and asylum-seekers has been inexcusable and should be dealt with by condign measures taken against the perpetrators.”
Clemente Lisi is the executive editor of Religion Unplugged. He previously served as deputy head of news at the New York Daily News and a longtime reporter at The New York Post. Follow him on X @ClementeLisi.