Scarcely imaginable, the UK found itself in the grip of massive race riots last week. Perpetrated by the far-right and unprecedented, the violence has led to 500 arrests and over 150 charged for unrest in various towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland. Unlike some countries, where the police and administration are heavily biased against a particular community and the victims are arrested and prosecuted instead of the perpetrators, the UK displayed its commitment to justice and fair play by going after the rioters irrespective of their religious and ideological affiliation.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer led the charge saying, “I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves. This is not protest. It is organized, violent thuggery.”
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander added, “There will be consequences for those causing this mayhem.” By carrying out hundreds of arrests, the government sent a strong message to the extremists that violence will have a price.
How did the violence erupt suddenly? What triggered this wave of race riots? On 29 July, a children’s dance class in Southport near Liverpool was attacked by a knife-wielding man, resulting in the deaths of three children and injuries to eight others. Rumors immediately flew across indicating the killer was a Muslim migrant. Extremist groups called on their followers to take to the streets, and the day after the stabbings, protests, and rioting began, starting in Southport. The suspect was identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana. Normally, suspects under 18 are granted automatic anonymity, but the judges chose to reveal Rudakubana’s identity, to curb rumors and the spread of misinformation.
The suspect was a British citizen born in Wales to parents reportedly of Rwandan Christian descent. Despite efforts to correct the false narratives, the damage had been done and unrest soon spread to a dozen cities across the UK, including Aldershot, Sunderland, Liverpool, Belfast, Rotherham, Middlesbrough, and Hull.
A hotel housing asylum-seekers was attacked in Rotherham. Rioters in Middlesbrough threw bottles and rocks at police officers, and cars were set on fire. A library and a food bank were set alight in Liverpool, and storefronts were smashed in Hull. Mosques were vandalized, bricks were thrown into the homes of Muslims, and cars were damaged. A Syrian supermarket in Belfast was set on fire. Racist graffiti was sprayed on the Holiday Inn Express in Tamworth. Dozens of police officers were injured, with some requiring hospital treatment. Nearly 4,000 additional police officers were deployed. The violence was two-way with white English mobs attacking immigrants and Muslims and vice versa.
The spread of violence across the UK was fueled by social media. False information about the killing of three children in Southport was disseminated through social platforms, including WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook, exacerbating the situation. The various tools within social media were used to organize gatherings at short notice and spread false information about specific protests.
Additionally, TikTok was abuzz with videos of the violence, further amplifying the spread and intensity of the riots. This dubious role of social media came under increasing scrutiny by the British government, which emphasized the need for social media platforms to do more to address their role in the crisis. The government is actively cracking down on people who have shared footage of the protests and is taking action against spreading harmful content on social media. Inflammatory language from right wing politicians and the rapid spread of unverified, false, and inflammatory content online have been identified as drivers of civil unrest. Perhaps the most damaging and high profile of all messages was from Elon Musk who is the CEO of Tesla as well as the owner of X.com; who tweeted, “Civil War is inevitable”.
Musk faced criticism for reinstating the account of prominent far-right activist and Muslim-baiter Tommy Robinson, co-founder of the English Defense League. Robinson shared a video on X.com showing black-clad men throwing fireworks in Liverpool, further inflaming tensions.
If we delve into the causes and background of the riots, we find many issues at play. First, it is undeniable that there is a growing frustration within white working-class communities who feel marginalized and believe their concerns about immigration and asylum have been ignored by the political class. Those who are anti-immigration say that the previous Conservative government led by Rishi Sunak allowed immigration to rise unsustainable levels, with net migration reaching 740,000 two years ago. They accuse the current Labor government of ignoring the issue of immigration. Naturally, the negative consequences of high immigration levels are felt most by those in less wealthy communities, where the demographic changes are most pronounced. While most immigrants and asylum seekers are law-abiding, some violent incidents have been associated with individuals from migrant backgrounds such as the Southport stabbing incident. This is one side of the coin, which is both irrefutable and painful.
There is another side of the story which rarely comes across. Over one million British military personnel lost their lives in the World Wars-I and II, with the World War-I alone claiming 886,000 lives. Additionally, there were nearly 70,000 British civilian casualties, the vast majority during the World War-II. Then if we check the total fertility rate in the UK from 1961 to 2021, we see it start from 2.78 and steadily decline to 1.69 in 1977. Since 1974 when it reached 1.92, the UK total fertility rate has never exceeded 2.1 which is known as the Replacement level fertility i.e. the level of fertility at which a population exactly replaces itself from one generation to the next. In fact, after reaching 1.96 in 2008, it has again declined continuously to 1.53 in 2021. We will not go into the reasons behind this decline and compare it with the fertility rate of Muslim countries. It is sufficient to understand the reason for the UK to welcome immigrants for many decades.
The UK cannot carry on without injecting immigrants for their labor and economic growth requirements. An honest debate on immigration and asylum is required to address the grievances of those who participated in the riots. Transparency and straightforward communication can be more effective in addressing public concerns than withholding information. The best response to fake news and propaganda is to provide real and truthful information.