Southport stabbing: Far-Right Protesters Targeted a Mosque and Chanted Anti-Islam Slogans

 A group chanting ‘English till I die’ stormed the mosque in Southport, UK, as Tuesday morning turned out bloody. After this, there was an information war on the mistaken perception of the 17-year-old suspect who had killed three children at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class as a Muslim. 

 At 11 PM that Tuesday, several hundred of these ethno-religious bigots, all clad in black face-covering masks, began converging on the Southport Islamic Society Mosque. The previous evening, thousands had gathered not far from this mosque for a candlelight vigil in memory of the victims of the Monday tragedy. The vigil was made rather sorrowful and effective; the people of the community united on this common platform to pay the last respect to the young lives lost. This, however, immediately turned a very rowdy society in their violent actions against the police. 

 The majority of the participants wore masks; they pelted the police with plant pots, bricks, and empty bins. It got worse when a police van was reportedly burned. BBC reported that the mosque’s windows were some of the items that were destroyed during the fight. The Merseyside Police took part in the protest too, and they expressed their anger by denouncing the act of violence that an officer was violently attacked with a possible broken nose. That may be the reason clips posted on social media, and regular news outlets depicted several officers with cuts and graze in the face after an altercation with the far-right group. 

 Merseyside Police released a statement detailing the incident: They previously hurled items at a local mosque on St Luke’s road in Southport at around 7. 45 pm and are considered to be supporters of the English Defence League. Currently, police officers who are on the scene are also dealing with acts of criminal violence and use bottles and wheelie bins in the process. 

 The violent showdown happened just almost one hour after a candlelight procession was conducted to redefine the atrocities of Monday’s attack. Nine S’s daughter Alice Dasilva Aguiar, Bebe King, six, and six S’s daughter Elsie Dot Stancombe all died from stabbings during the incident. Three more children were slightly injured, while eight other children, five of them in critical condition, and two adult patients, both in critical condition, were also identified. 

News Channels informed late on Tuesday that the 17-year-old suspect was born in Cardiff to Rwandan immigrant parents and that his family relocated to the Southport area in 2013. Because the suspect is below the legal age, he cannot be named or paraded in front of media persons. The Sun newspaper further said that he was born in Cardiff in 2006 following his parents’ migration from Rwanda, who are Christians. 

 Within days, an extreme right bully, Tommy Robinson, justified the violent attack, saying it was due to immigration problems. In a profanity-laden post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Robinson stated: People had started saying English players are fighting with the Spirit of Terrorism and call the three angry men hooligans up in Southport; all I have to say is they are right totally. Robinson had left England on Sunday from the Southport Court after he was likely to be arrested for contempt of court. 

 This means that Robinson’s comments seemed to be about a well-known fake news story in which the stabbing suspect was an asylum seeker from Syria. Some critical social media persons, such as influencer Andrew Tate, contributed to spreading fake news that the attacker was an illegitimate immigrant. 

 Home Secretary Yvette Cooper earlier slammed any attempts to politicize the devastating act of the murder of three schoolgirls and sharing inaccurate information on the subject should stop. ‘At the core, these are young children,’ Cooper McCarthy said. This is regarding children and their families who shall be mourning and the so many other children who were involved the previous day who are also going to experience a great deal of trauma. 

 Southport Islamic Society Mosque, before the incidence of the violence, like any other civilized society, condemned the Monday tragedy through their Facebook page. Besides, the mosque community, as expected, had lost significant relatives, friends and neighbours during the incident, and the subsequent unrest was an added misery for a grieving community. 

 Thus, tragic events in Southport show the adverse effects of false information, the need for people’s unity, and truthful coverage of events during such crises.