A far-right mob on Tuesday started a riot outside a mosque in the United Kingdom’s Southport and set a police van ablaze after a misinformation campaign claimed that the 17-year-old who killed three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class was a Muslim.
Slogans like “English till I die” were chanted by hundreds of men who pelted stones, and threw bricks at riot police. The Southport Islamic Society Mosque reportedly got vandalised during the rioting.
According to the North West Ambulance service , thirty nine police officers have been injured after a protest broke out in Southport hours to mourn the victims of a knife attack in which three children were killed.
What happened on Monday?
Alice Dasilva Aguiar (9), Bebe King (6), and Elsie Dot Stancombe (7) were killed after being stabbed by the 17 year old at the children’s dance club in Hart Street. In addition to this, eight other children were injured and five are in critical condition.
According to the BBC News reports published on Tuesday the 17-year-old suspect was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents and had moved to the Southport area in 2013. As the suspect is under 18 he cannot be legally identified.
Following this a massive misinformation campaign erupted that speculated or claimed the suspect was Muslim.
However, Muslim groups in the UK condemned the attack. “Weaponizing the tragic killings of innocent children in such an overt display of Islamophobia is horrific,” posted the Muslim Association of Britain.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer took to X and said, “Those who have hijacked the vigil for the victims with violence and thuggery have insulted the community as it grieves.”
“They will feel the full force of the law,” he added.
Merseyside Police condemned the violence and said “At around 7.45 pm, a large group of people – believed to be supporters of the English Defence League – began to throw items towards a local mosque on St Luke’s Road in Southport,” the force said.
“there were at least 27 million impressions for posts stating or speculating that the attacker was Muslim, a migrant, refugee or foreigner. There were people also denouncing these speculations – especially the more racist ones,” Marc Owen Jones, an expert on misinformation, claimed.
