LONDON — Far-right and anti-immigrant demonstrations across Britain descended into violence over the weekend, including clashes with riot police outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, following misinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last week.
It was not immediately clear how many people were injured in the Rotherham hotel siege, or how far the demonstrators went inside, but photos showed confrontations between police and protesters, violence that Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned as “far-right thuggery.”
“Be in no doubt, those that have participated in this violence will face the full force of the law,” he said in a speech Sunday afternoon.
At about the same time Starmer denounced the violence, his government announced a new rapid-response process for mosque leaders to call for additional security support.
“To those who feel targeted because of the color of your skin or your faith, I know how frightening this must be,” Starmer said. “I want you to know this violent mob do not represent our country, and we will bring them to justice.”
Rishi Sunak, leader of the opposition center-right Conservative Party, said that the violent acts are not related to last week’s stabbing and that the perpetrators “must face the full weight of the law.”
“The shocking scenes we’re seeing on the streets of Britain have nothing to do with the tragedy in Southport,” Sunak posted on X.
Officers tend to a wounded colleague inside the hotel as seen through a smashed window. (Danny Lawson/AP)
The violence began after the stabbing in the northwest English city of Southport. Demonstrations organized by far-right or anti-immigration groups damaged cities across the country Saturday and Sunday, some of them met with counterprotests. Several cities issued orders throughout the weekend, granting police more powers.
Officers arrested nearly 150 people since Saturday night in several areas across England, according to a news release from national police official BJ Harrington.
It was not immediately clear how many of those arrested would be charged and whether all those arrested were part of far-right or anti-immigration marches.
Asked whether all the participants in the violence were from the far right, Starmer said: “If you target people because of the color of their skin or faith, then that is far right, and I’m prepared to say so. But it doesn’t matter what apparent motivation it is. This is violence, not protest.”
A demonstrator throws a smoke flare at police during a far-right protest in Sunderland, England, on Friday. (Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
The streets of Rotherham were being taken by “marauding gangs intent on lawbreaking or worse,” Starmer said.
The anti-immigration demonstrators there attacked a Holiday Inn Express that was housing asylum seekers, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.
Scores of violent far-right protesters, some holding signs reading “Stop the boats now,” had overshadowed a pro-immigrant crowd carrying “Refugees welcome stop the far right” messages.
Far-right protesters threw bricks and chairs at the hotel, some shattering glass windows and doors. They clashed with riot police, with one man photographed throwing a fire extinguisher at a clutch of shielded officers. Guests on the upper floors watched from their windows.
Demonstrators gathered by a debris fire lit outside the hotel, with photographs showing masked protesters holding up an England flag with anarchist symbols spray-painted in each of its quadrants.
No one at the hotel picked up the phone, and Rotherham police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The wave of violent demonstrations began after false rumors spread on social media that the person who fatally stabbed three children Monday was in the country illegally.
Police charged a 17-year-old with murder in the stabbings. Soon after, a judge revealed the suspect’s identity to curb what he called the “idiotic rioting” caused by the speculation and misinformation. The suspect, Axel Rudakubana, was born in the United Kingdom to parents from Rwanda.
But it was too late: The falsehood about his immigration status was amplified by prominent far-right figures, prompting anti-immigration demonstrations and the targeting of some mosques.
Andrew Chadwick, professor of political communication at Loughborough University who researches the spread of online misinformation, previously told The Post that a viral tweet with misinformation about the suspect after the attack appeared to have been “deliberately fabricated to generate hostility toward ethnic minorities and immigrants.” The claim spread quickly, in part because content restrictions on X have been loosened since it was acquired by Elon Musk in 2022.
People watch from the hotel Sunday. It was not immediately clear how far inside the demonstrators went. (Danny Lawson/AP)
The violent protests that ensued were not planned by a single far-right organization but were promoted and supported by far-right figures, according to Hope Not Hate, an organization that monitors far-right extremist groups.
“The events often seem to be locally led and organized on an ad hoc basis, though there are examples of far-right individuals traveling in for the disturbances,” Joe Mulhall, the group’s director of research, wrote in an email Sunday. The group said at least 16 events drew significant numbers of people over the past few days, adding that more were planned for the afternoon.
“Whilst Southport was the trigger, most of these protests and riots are more broadly focused, expressive of a wider hostility to multiculturalism, anti-Muslim and anti-migrant prejudice, as well as a visceral streak of populist anti-Government sentiment,” Mulhall added.
– The Washington Post
