Recently, the United Kingdom has witnessed the most significant urban riots and violence since 2011, following the murder of three girls in a stabbing attack in Southport on July 29, 2024. Protesters took to the streets in several British cities based on false rumors about the identity of the attacker. These events come about a month after the Labour Party took power, following 14 years in opposition, with new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer focusing on quickly prosecuting the rioters.
Escalating Violence
The riots that have erupted in the United Kingdom since the end of July 2024 highlight several key dimensions:
1- Historical Roots of Violence in British Society: The general image of British society as tolerant does not negate the presence of a strong racist movement within it, which may explain the recent riots. The UK has previously seen the emergence of movements characterized by racist violence, such as football hooligans. Racial riots occurred in Notting Hill, London, in 1958. In 2001, violence erupted in Oldham, North Manchester, lasting several weeks after a 73-year-old British man was robbed and beaten by youths of Southeast Asian descent, leading to racist demonstrations in Muslim neighborhoods and attacks on them. In 2016, violent anti-immigration riots occurred in Dover. In February 2023, riots erupted in Kirkby after a migrant was accused of sexually assaulting a student, with demonstrators attacking the hotel where the alleged perpetrator was staying.
2- Rise of Far-Right Propaganda Against Immigrants: One of the main causes of this issue is the propaganda spread by far-right groups in the UK, especially after the surge in asylum seekers crossing the English Channel by boat. This propaganda portrays immigrants as potential criminals and non-productive, who come to the UK to compete with the working class, which constitutes the majority of the population, leading to future deterioration in their quality of life in terms of security, employment, and social and health benefits. This propaganda falls within a broader discourse adopted by the most extreme groups, which talks about attempts to destroy the white West, within the framework of biological racism.
In addition, there is the rise of anti-Muslim racism, emphasizing cultural incompatibility between Islam and the West, which falls within cultural racism. These campaigns have significantly influenced public opinion in the UK. It is worth noting that anti-immigration and racism were among the main reasons for the UK’s departure from the European Union.
3- Accusations Against the English Defense League of Involvement in Violence: The way these riots broke out is part of a common mechanism in racist violence, based on exploiting the outrage caused by a horrific act, real or fabricated, and calling for revenge not just against the individual responsible for the act but against the entire group to which they belong. The British police have attributed the recent riots to an organization called the English Defense League. Some opinions suggest that this organization has not existed since the mid-2010s and that far-right activists opposing immigrants are only part of those involved in the current riots, along with a segment of working-class white youths feeling competitive pressure from young immigrants, as well as a section of football fans.
4- Exploitation of Social Media for Misinformation: The spark that ignited the riots was primarily false information about the incident that claimed the lives of the young girls, which spread quickly on social media. Without any evidence, a tweet from an account called Europe Invasion on the platform X claimed that the suspect was a Muslim immigrant, with the tweet receiving 6.8 million views.
Channel3 Now published an article claiming that the attacker was an asylum seeker who arrived on British shores by boat in 2023. These rumors led to targeting neighborhoods inhabited by Muslim communities, as well as several mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.
British authorities quickly refuted the rumor and revealed the true identity of the suspect, who was found to have been born in Cardiff, of Rwandan descent, aged 17, named Axel Rudakubana, who has been in custody since then. It is reported that the main leader of this anti-immigrant violence is a British man named Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist currently residing in France, continuing to lead his followers remotely, especially after Elon Musk allowed his return to the X platform in 2023.
5- Reform Party Leader Promotes Conspiracy Theories: Some opinions attribute the escalation of tensions to the promotion of conspiracy theories; elected MP and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage published a video on the X platform stating that the Southport attack should have been classified by authorities as a terrorist act, questioning whether the truth was being hidden from the British people. Some believe Farage supported the far-right and promoted conspiracy theories to justify the attack on the police. Some circles believe that the significant vote for Farage’s party in the recent elections gave the rioters the belief that they would receive some form of support and legitimacy.
Key Consequences
The consequences of the riots in the United Kingdom are as follows:
1- Increased Presence of Far-Right Ideologies: Some analyses suggest that since the mid-2010s, there has been no central far-right organization, and supporters of this ideology now gather on social networks, making it more difficult for authorities to detect them. These analyses note that even if the four million people who voted for the Reform Party in the UK in the July 4 election do not support this violence, the party does promote ideas similar to those of the far-right. The British newspaper The Guardian revealed that previous right-wing governments had been warned by experts about the growing threats from the far-right and the authorities’ unpreparedness to confront them, but these warnings were ignored.
2- Calls for Counter-Demonstrations to the Far-Right Escalation: Amid the continued organization of far-right marches against mosques and asylum seeker centers, some circles fear the escalation of street clashes, particularly with anti-racism and Islamophobia organizations calling for counter-demonstrations. On August 6, the ActivePatriotUK account on the X platform, with 138,000 subscribers, posted that Muslims were planning to riot in Scunthorpe, which has a population of 72,000, advising white people to avoid the area. The tweet received nearly 1,000 likes and 350 shares within 30 minutes, after which the police quickly denied this rumor.
3- Pressure on the Starmer Government to Take Firm Measures: New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has adopted clear language and firm measures to address the recent wave of riots in the country, which comes about a month after he took office. His rhetoric focuses on considering these events an attack on the rule of law, calling for the punishment of anyone involved in the riots or in inciting disturbances online, with 400 people arrested by August 5.
Starmer has taken measures to strengthen cooperation between intelligence agencies and police forces across the country. Local police forces, detectives, and regional intelligence agencies are working around the clock to identify those involved in the violence, while 17 specialized judges are speeding up the filing of charges.
4- Clash Between the British Government and Social Media Platforms: Starmer has called on social media platforms to take responsibility by keeping citizens away from misinformation and revealing the truth to them, which is considered the essence of journalistic work, so as not to leave the field open to populists to fuel violence in the streets by spreading their lies. The spokesman for Starmer’s government criticized Elon Musk after the latter stated on the X channel that civil war in the UK is inevitable.
5- Exacerbation of the Migration Issue: Some circles believe that Brexit has increased illegal migration across the English Channel, as the UK is no longer able to return migrants to France. Numerous proposals and plans have been put forward to address this problem, such as the plan to send refugees to Rwanda, as promoted by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak with the slogan “Stop the Boats,” and his harsh speeches against those trying to cross the channel illegally. Some opinions suggest that criminalizing the presence of migrants on British soil will only fuel the far-right. Despite Brexit promises to regain control of the borders to reduce immigration, in 2023, under a Conservative government, the record for net legal migration to the UK was broken, reaching nearly 700,000 people.
6- Increasing Threats to British Democracy: This viewpoint suggests that when far-right individuals are willing to resort to violence, it can pose a real danger to democratic processes in the UK. According to some interpretations, what helps the far-right undermine democracy are those parties that are supposed to adhere to democratic values but simultaneously adopt far-right agendas, believing that to stop its rise, they must borrow its rhetoric for electoral gain and to win its voters.
7- Prompting British Institutions to Produce a Counter-Narrative to Far-Right Discourse: The violent clashes between extremists and police in British cities in recent days have led many analyses to question how to stop the spread of false information. While some perspectives suggest that the solution lies in forcing platforms to remove hate speech content and reveal the truth, other viewpoints argue that this approach will not be effective, as the removed content will be immediately replaced by new content. The optimal solution, according to these views, is to identify the audience targeted by inciters and reduce the flow of hatred that drives them to commit acts of violence. Fact-checking does not solve the central problem, according to them, and it would be better to create other sources that can send better messages to this misguided audience.
In conclusion, Labour Party circles believe that spreading hate speech and fake news is the real cause of the recent riots in the United Kingdom. On the other hand, right-wing circles believe that the root cause of the problem is the failure to address the issue of mass immigration, which they argue leads to the breakdown of social cohesion. While Star
mer’s government emphasizes the priority of maintaining public order and punishing violators, opposing opinions argue that repressing activists who highlight real problems will only deepen the internal crisis.
