Far-Right UK Rioters Just Want To Burn Stuff, Also People, Is That So Wrong?
Far-Right UK Rioters Just Want To Burn Stuff, Also People, Is That So Wrong?
Thank god Elon Musk is helping to make things worse.
Mobs of violent racist assholes have rioted in the UK over the last week, burning cars and stores and attempting to burn down two hotels where asylum-seekers are staying while their cases wait to be heard. The violent attacks against immigrants (or perceived immigrants) have been incited by online disinformation, not that rightwing assholes need facts to attack brown people, police, and whatever else happens to be at hand.
The far-Right demonstrations and riots began last week in response to fake online claims about the alleged perpetrator of a horrific July 29 knife attack on a dance class at a community center in Southport, which killed three little girls and severely injured eight girls and two adults who tried to protect them. Police arrested a 17-year-old suspect who was eventually identified as having been born in the UK to parents who were originally from Rwanda. By the time his name was released, fake news stories seeded by Russian fake news sites were circulating claiming the killer was a Muslim immigrant who was in the UK illegally. (Ninety-two percent of Rwandans are Christian, not that such details matter to racists, either, and the disinformation campaign fomenting hate against Muslims and immigrants continued to spread on social media.)
CNN reports that more than 100 people have been charged so far in the riots and attacks on police and public buildings, with more than 370 having been arrested over the weekend. Both numbers are expected to rise, because violent racist assholes believe they are harmed by the existence of nonwhite people in the same country, and once they get started rioting, they really want to keep burning things and ideally people.
On Monday, Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took office last month, chaired an emergency meeting of national agencies and government ministers to assess the response to the riots and plan how to move forward; another meeting was planned for Tuesday. On Sunday, Starmer said, “This is not protest. It is organized, violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets, or online.”
The Independent reports that a
horrifying list of 30 targets - including immigration centres, lawyers’ offices and charities - has been shared by the far-right alongside flame emojis and calls to “mask up”.
Some 6,000 specialist police officers are prepared to quell the violence and anti-fascist counter protests are being planned at relevant locations.
As violence continued on Monday night, a man has been hospitalised in serious condition after being “stamped on his head” in Belfast on Monday.
Yes, the antifascists, or “antifa,” have been surrounding the hotels and keeping the fascists, or “fa,” from entirely burning them to the ground.
Over the weekend, CNN reports, mobs tried to burn two hotels, in Rotherham in northern England, and in Tamworth in central England, where rioters believed asylum-seekers are being housed, because the best way to solve social and economic problems is to try to burn to death anyone who seems to represent the bad people responsible for your sick angry paranoia.
The Rotherham hotel at the time was “full of terrified residents and staff,” according to a statement by South Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield.
In Tamworth, rioters threw projectiles, smashed windows and started fires, injuring one police officer, according to local authorities. In Rotherham, they threw wooden planks, used fire extinguishers against officers, set fire to objects near the hotel, and smashed windows to gain entry to the building, police said.
Just to help make things better, Twitter owner Elon Musk replied to a tweet showing video of the riots and blaming the riots on “mass migration and open borders” with his own sage observation that “Civil war is inevitable.” The video was originally posted by far-right hate leader Tommy Robinson and then amplified on this side of the Atlantic by American hatemonger Chaya Raichik on her Libs of TikTok account.
The Guardian reports that
The X owner criticised Starmer again on Monday night, responding to the prime minister’s statement on protecting Muslim communities and mosques.
Musk posted: “Shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on *all* communities?”
Isn’t he a hero of free speech? Racists in the UK responded to Starmer’s condemnation of “far-right thugs” by circulating the hashtag #FarRightThugsUnite, because they too are heroic and also very witty.
Also too, the world’s richest asshole responded to a video claiming that someone had been arrested for offensive Facebook comments by wondering whether such a thing had happened in Britain or in the Soviet Union. He is a great intellect.
A spokesperson for Starmer, asked if the PM agreed the UK was on the brink of civil war, said “There is no justification for comments like that.”
“What we’ve seen in this country is organized illegal thuggery which has no place on our streets or online,” Starmer’s official spokesperson said.
“We’re talking about a minority of thugs that do not speak for Britain, and in response to it we’ve seen some of the best of our communities coming out to clean up the mess and disruption,” the spokesperson added. “You can tell from that the prime minister doesn’t share those sentiments.”
CNBC reports that, in response to the rioting, six nations — the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia — have issued advisories warning their citizens in the UK about the riots and urging them to stay alert and avoid areas where there’s unrest. The British Tourist Authority told the US cable network that “Demand for travel to Britain remains strong and we continue to welcome many millions of visitors from all over the world,” and probably that “Amity means friendship,” too.
In the tiniest reminder that people can actually not be totally horrible, that CNBC story also notes that
The disorder has also brought affected communities together, with counter-protests and community clean-ups taking place. Many locals have denounced those involved in the disturbances, saying they don’t represent their communities.
Seems like a good thing to keep in mind as our own homegrown hatemongers try to push fear of immigrants and hate-fueled rhetoric about the coming election, too.
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I absolutely agree that Elno and these yobs are horrible people. You don't need to say anything kind about them. But we are also fucking civilized around these parts, and we don't allow calls for violence, or for people, even the very worst people, to die horribly or be maimed.
That has nothing to do with them; they'll never see your exquisite detailed torture fantasy anyway. This is about keeping the filthy fuckaducks who read Wonkette a decent and humane community, fuckers.
The thugs are angry because asylum seekers are being kept in hotels. But they're only in hotels because 14 years of right-wing Tory government so thoroughly wrecked the budget of the departments who process asylum requests that there's a gigantic backlog. The asylum seekers aren't allowed to work, are under strict curfews, and from what I've read, the conditions they're kept in are pretty unpleasant.
I'm also an immigrant to the UK. But I'm white (mostly), and American. Funny how I never get any shit from folks here in Essex, where I live, which is a right-wing anti-immigrant heartland.