by MRN and Islamophobia Response Unit
Far-right violence is spreading from Southport to Manchester and Whitehall accompanied by Islamophobic, racist and anti-migrant chants. The violence followed rampant misinformation online including comments by Tommy Robinson in which he linked the attack with Islam and migrants, whereby he actively encouraged protests against ‘asylum hotel owners’. This led to a far-right attack on a mosque in Southport, and a livestream of rioters kicking doors in a residential street in Hartlepool. Robinson and others have exploited the enormous grief and pain the families, friends and community of Southport have been feeling following the horrific murder of three children and the attack on many other children, to stir up hate and division.
This ongoing violence across the country shows the damaging consequences of inflammatory and divisive rhetoric towards marginalised groups, The rhetoric around these riots has been centred on the harms the police have faced but not the fear and terror brought onto Muslims and People of Colour living in the UK. All of this has been exacerbated by previous government narratives, and now anti-migrant politicians, like Nigel Farage (now a serving MP) are seizing the opportunity to further their agenda, and it appears that they are aiming to create more division and hate.
Eighteen months on from the far-right riot in Knowsley outside asylum accommodation, we must once again confront persistent racism and Islamophobia embedded in the UK. Anti-migrant and Islamophobic chants alongside the spiralling, hate-fuelled riots and demonstrations outside hotels accommodating people seeking asylum clearly shows how easily Muslim and migrant communities are turned into scapegoats. We should not write off the far-right response as a “mindless minority” as the Prime Minister has claimed, but ask how rioters felt enabled to attack marginalised communities, and mobilise so quickly at a time of national mourning.
We cannot begin to comprehend the enormous grief and pain the families, friends and community of Southport have been feeling following the horrific murder of three children and the attack on many other children. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the victims’ loved ones. At a time that should be about centring the needs of the families and wider community, far-right violence and some politicians have exploited this attack to stoke hatred and division.
Now is the time for solidarity between communities: from the grieving families in Southport, to Muslim communities scared for their safety and sanctity of places of worship, to the people seeking asylum living in inhumane accommodation.
Islamophobia and anti-migrant hate is racism in action.