Misinformation and incitement forwarded ahead of far-right mobilisation

It was inevitable that the far right would exploit the horrific events in Southport. In the aftermath of the attack on a Taylor Swift-themed dance event, in which three children died and others were left in critical condition, locals organised a peaceful vigil outside Southport Town Hall. An hour later far-right activists, some of whom travelled from London, targeted a local mosque on St. Luke’s Road. Police intervened when the crowd started throwing objects and the protest quickly escalated into rioting, and a police van was set on fire. In contrast to the vigil, rioters chanted slogans heard at recent Tommy Robinson protests including “who the fuck is Allah”, “we want our country back” and “no surrender”. They ripped up garden walls and driveways for missiles and attacked a corner shop.

Disinformation has swirled around the killings. In the hours after the attack, large social media accounts, including those of right-wing X-ers Andrew Tate and Darren Grimes, stated that the attacker was either an illegal immigrant or a Syrian refugee. However, as far as we know, the UK-born attacker was neither. Other accounts, like the (literally) fake news site Channel 3 Now, were cited by conspiracy theorists and used to call for martial law and mass deportations. 

Mark Owen Jones, an academic who analysed the accounts sharing disinformation, tweeted: “While people always spread incorrect information in the wake of a tragic event (we saw this with Sydney), there is clear and attempt [sic] to exploit the tragic incident by right-wing influencers and grifters — pushing an anti-immigrant and xenophobic agenda despite there being no evidence”.

Disinformation has also come from the media and police in describing the rioters as the English Defence League. In reality, the EDL has not been in existence for nearly a decade. Today’s far right is not dominated by one group. Instead, we saw an amorphous network of conspiracy theorists, anti-migrant activists, explicit fascists and hooligans mobilise from across the country. The mobilisation is similar to what we saw in the riot in Knowsley last year which was instigated by rumours of incidents around a hotel housing asylum seekers.

Fascist group Patriotic Alternative involved in the mobilisation

The protest callout was shared by Joe Butler, PA Wales regional organiser, in a post on Telegram. Another PA activist, David Miles, was prominently photographed in front of police lines wearing a Free Sam Melia t-shirt. Melia, PA Yorkshire regional organiser, is currently imprisoned for producing and distributing racist stickers through the anonymous Hundred Handers group. One PA Twitter user, Holly Myers, denied PA’s involvement. But PA’s leader, Mark Collett, justified the violence, writing on his Telegram channel that “White men took to the street and attacked the police because they have been ignored maligned and persecuted… The blame for all this lies with the anti-white establishment”.

As of writing this article in the aftermath of the riot, more protests have been called. Daniel Thomas, a convicted attempted kidnapper and Tommy Robinson lackey, has called for an “immediate response” and a “reaction in every city” in response to the attack. Thomas called for a protest at Downing Street on the evening of the 31st of July to show “righteous anger… directly to the government”. Protests may be short-lived, but they come at a time when the far right is massing on the streets against supposed “two-tier policing”. The state will likely have a harsh response in the weeks to come. It remains to be seen how arrests, prosecutions and convictions will blunt the protests.

~ Scott Harris