#southport riots

[criminalmindsgonewrong]

with everything that's happening in the UK right now, I'm just glad not to be there. with it being Liverpool, too, it's much too close to home for me.

the way the far-right racists and islamophobes are using "protect the children" as an excuse for their violence and bigotry disgusts me to my core and strips away any "British pride" I may or may not have had. this is what comes of Reform UK and people like Nigel Farage having a platform.

In the name of "protecting the children," these thugs have;

• showed up to the memorial for the three little dead girls with crates of cider and then turned it into a riot

• acid attack on a Muslim woman

• attacked black men in the street

• Torn off a woman's hijab while she carried her baby in her arms

• attacked Asian people on the bus

• beaten up an Asian cab driver

• attacked, rioted near and vandalised mosques across the cities involved

• burnt down a library and attacked the emergency workers

• thrown a missile at a fire engine that was trying to put out the fire

• set a community centre for a low-income neighbourhood on fire

this is what comes from hate. this is what the government wants. dissent among its people, so that the uneducated and unwilling among us can't see the real problem. Them.

please know that my page is and always has been a safe space for anybody that does not wish others harm. people of any race, gender, sexuality, spirituality, or any other defining characteristics, you're safe here. and to anyone affected, whether directly or from afar, I'm so sorry.

[the-desolated-quill]

I’m sorry, but this is the bare minimum and doesn’t do anything to tackle the hate speech and misinformation circulating unchecked on the platform. We don’t need a Twitter boycott. What we need is a warrant for Elon Musk’s arrest. No one should be above the law.

[llyfrenfys]

Given all the right wing violence going on in the streets, don't think it's the best idea in the world for the Prime Minister to be threatening siccing a police army on the rioters.

Just a thought

[ivovynckier]

Winston Churchill on religion.

[kropotkindersurprise]

July 30, 2024 - A drunken racist scumbag gets bricked in the head and the balls during a fascist riot in Southport, UK. [video]

[octarineblues]

supporting communities & people impacted by the Southport attack and the far-right riots in the UK

here is a list of community fundraisers I found, starting with those aiming to support the Southport community after the appalling attack at a children dance party, to the fundraisers helping those affected by the subsequent racist and Islamophobic far-right/nazi riots

Edited on 5 August to include Middlesbrough fundraisers. Edited on 6 August to correct the link on the Books for Spellow Lane fundraiser, to adjust the name change for the Belfast fundraiser, and to adjust the wording in the second last paragraph.

Southport:

Southport Strong Together Appeal - organised by the community foundation for Merseyside, for those affected by the Southport knife attack

United for Southport families - the funds will be distributed among the nine families of the children who were at the party

Swifties for Southport - a fundraiser for the Alder Hey Children's charity, which supports the victims and the affected families, as well as first responders and clinicians. Extra funds will also support the wider Southport community

Fundraiser for the Southport Mosque - a fundraiser to aid rebuilding or possibly re-locating the Southport Mosque after the damages it suffered during the riots

Rebuilding Windsor Mini Mart - fundraiser to rebuild the locally-owned grocery store that was targeted during the attacks, broken into, and looted

Liverpool:

Fundraiser for the Spellow Hub - the Spellow Hub was broken into, looted and set on fire at night during the riots. The Spellow Hub is a newly created one-of-a-kind (in the UK) institution, which consists of a library as well as a community centre with a mission to help people get education and pathways to work

Books for Spellow Lane - another fundraiser for the library in the Spellow Hub, to replace the books and rebuild the library there edit: included the correct link

Hartlepool:

Fundraiser for the Nasir Mosque - the Nasir Mosque was attacked following Southport riots; this fundraiser is organised by Hartlepool citizens to help the mosque deal with the damages as well as to show appreciation for the role of the mosque in the community. edit: the funds will be also distributed to the local community!

Rebuilding the Farm Shop - the shop was targeted during the riots, and when the owner and his son tried to protect it, they were also violently attacked. The fundraiser is to help fix the damages to the store.

Sunderland:

help rebuild Citizens Advice Sunderland offices after arson - two of the Citizens Advice Sunderland offices were set on fire during the riots, and one of them is completely destroyed.

Hull:

Hull Help for Refugees - a local fundraiser to support the Hull Help for Refugees charity, the donated money will be re-distributed to community members affected by the riots

Fundraiser for Hull Help for Refugees and Welcome House in Hull - collected money will be donated to the two charities

Belfast:

help fix racially motivated damages - originally the fundraiser for the Sahara Shisha Cafe which was targeted by the far right in Belfast during the riots, now a fundraiser for all affected businesses in the area. edited to reflect the change of the name of the fundraiser to avoid any confusion

Middlesbrough:

Supporting residents after the riots - Middlesbrough has suffered so much during the riots, lots of businesses as well as just regular family homes were vandalised, had their windows smashed or even were broken into. This fundraiser wants to distribute the funds between affected people to help them fix the damages, and to generally support the local community. the newest fundraiser, imo potentially the most urgent one

Fundraiser for a Care worker's car which was set on fire - a car belonging to an employee of a care agency was set on fire during the riots while he was on shift at a care home.

If you want to donate locally but there is no fundraiser to support where you live, consider donating to your local charities oriented towards Muslim or PoC communities, or towards anti-racist and refugee organizations! And go support your local Muslim/Arab/Black/Asian/Refugee owned businesses!

If you have any information about other local fundraisers, feel free to add to the post or don't hesitate to let me know and I will add them here! We have seen so much hate in the past few days, we have to stay strong and keep supporting each other!

Stay safe everyone 💛

[our-trans-punk-experience]

FAR RIGHT RIOTS

REBLOG THIS PLEASE!!

shit is bad in the UK but obviously it is immensly confusing and I know some people wouldn't want to search up the news given how volatile it is, so here is a timeline of events. warnings for talk of violence, child death, racism, police ect

Monday 29/07: mass stabbing occured in Southport at a kids dance class, three girls died on scene, several others were hospitalised. An at time unnamed 17 y old boy was arrested on suspicion, and a knife was seized. later

Tuesday 30/07: having read false news suggesting that the attacker was a muslim immigrant who had arrived on a small boat, far-right groups with links to the EDL their leader Tommy Robinson took to the internet to imply the attacker was Muslim attacked a mosque in Southport, and after being declared a public disturbance, the police showed up and started trying to disperse them. This very quickly spiralled into a riot in which 39 police were hospitalised. Also on this day, Nigel fucking Farage, leader of far-right party Reform UK tweeted a video in which asked if the police were lying that the attack was not "terror related", furthering belief that the attacker was Muslim

Wednesday 31/07: violent anti immigrant protest continued, and there were mass riots in London. The PM spoke out denouncing the far right rioters as "violent thugs who would feel the full force of the law"

Thursday 01/08 : to try and curb the spread of misinformation, the police released the identity of their suspect - Axel Rudakubana, born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents in hope that the confirmation that he is not a Muslim immigrant would stop the rioting. It has not. PM Starmer released a statement saying that these were "coordinated attacks by the far right. " and that "this is not a protest that got out of hand these are individuals bent on violence"

Friday Night 02/08: Riots started in Sunderland late at night with reports of "serious violence". Starmer announced he had a plan to tackle far right violence.

Saturday 03/08: New far right mob action started in Manchester, Bristol, Hull, Belfast, Stoke, and Nottingham. Nottingham saw the first counterprotest, and as I write this, clashes between antifacist protestors and the far right is on going. The racists are setting fire to migrant housing buildings and attacking both police and counterprotestors countrywide. Dispersal orders have been issued for every city centre and major town centre across the UK.

Sunday 04/08: a "nick em quick" approach is to be used against the rioters in a hope to remove the far right mob from the street as soon as possible. There have been over 100 arrests. There are no plans to bring in the army, say ministers. There is a current attack on a migrant housing building in Rotherham.

I will keep posting updates as this unfolds so watch this space. This is obviously terrifying, so I want you to focus on actionable points.

stop the spread of misinformation. i can cite all my sources on a different post if you would like, but know that i visited ten different news sites, and also watched all the live news coverage to make this post. if you see any new information, fact check it. if you see someone spreading misinformation anywhere, DO SOMETHING. call them out and correct them and if they don't fix it, report them.

take care of any of your friends who aren't white, or if you aren't white, consider not going anywhere alone. racists don't discriminate in their discrimination. they are violent, deranged, and several are armed.

unless you are attending a counterprotest, stay the fuck out of town and city centres!!!!

STAY SAFE OUT THERE!! always in solidarity

[bullet-proof-gay]

I read another one of their articles on it and it was borderline sympathetic to the "thugs". Started out with the same sort of headline/intro on counterprotestors and then the rest of the article was entirely focussed on the few far-right protestors that turned up and how sad they were about the immigrants :(( this poor man fought for our country* (*killed a bunch of arabs) and now he "barely recognises it" because there are immigrants :((((. They also called the protestors "anti-immigrant" throughout most of the article as opposed to calling them racist/far-right

It was so fucking infuriating the way they were simultaneously trying to go "oh look how good it was that there were counterprotests" AND "well maybe we should hear out the racists anti-inmigrants..."

this level of hypocrisy is actually unfathomable

[reasonsforhope]

"Over 11,000 small donors have managed to raise £245,000 ($270,000) to repair a library in Liverpool that was set partially ablaze during a spate of violent acts of disorder that took place in England and Belfast last week [early August, 2024].

Called Spellow Hub, the library had recently been transformed into a community space with job training and outreach activities for some of the most disadvantaged parts of Liverpool, but the rioting left the whole of the ground floor badly burned.

“I always loved to read as a child and seeing a library and community space destroyed broke my heart,” the fundraiser’s organizer, 27-year-old Alex McCormick told the Guardian. “I felt helpless and wanted to do something to help and thought fundraising would be a nice way to replace some of the books lost in the fire.”

McCormick described herself as being “overwhelmed with the response and the sense of community,” and by the time she had spoken with the British paper the fundraiser already accumulated £120,000.

An update posted on Monday announced that work had already started to restore the Spellow Hub to its former joy.

The riots were described as the worst instances of their kind in 13 years. The deaths of three young girls and the injury of 10 others when an assailant attacked a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga class shook the nation.

The riots were described as the worst instances of their kind in 13 years...

However, communities have largely rallied together, including in Southport where there stabbing occurred when after a mosque was vandalized in the wake of the attack, local bricklaying companies rushed to rebuild the exterior wall in scorching temperatures."

-via August 14, 2024

[ingek73]

…

About 150 people carrying St George’s Cross flags, shouting “you’re not English any more” and “paedo Muslims off our street”, were greatly outnumbered in Leeds by hundreds of counter-protesters shouting “Nazi scum off our streets”. Skirmishes broke out between demonstrators and punks – in town for a festival – in Blackpool, with bottles and chairs thrown.

In Bristol, police kept protesters and counter protesters apart before a group headed to a hotel used to house asylum seekers.

The need for urgent political intervention was stressed by the government’s independent adviser on political violence and disruption, Lord Walney, who told the Observer that new emergency powers may be needed. “The system isn’t set up to deal with this rolling rabble-rousing being fuelled by far-right actors,” he said.

“I think home office ministers may want to look urgently at a new emergency framework – perhaps temporary in nature – that enables police to use the full powers of arrest to prevent people gathering where there is clear intent to fuel violent disorder.”

Keir Starmer held a meeting of senior ministers on Saturday in which he said police had been given full support to tackle extremists who were attempting “to sow hate by intimidating communities”. He made clear that the right to freedom of expression and the violent scenes over recent days were “two very different things”.

Last week’s riots followed the killing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport on Monday. Axel Rudakubana, 17, from Lancashire, is accused of the attack, but false claims were spread online that the suspect was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat. In the wake of these messages, far-right protesters – guided by social media – gathered in cities across the country.

A key factor in this spread of online disinformation involved Elon Musk’s decision to allow rightwing activists such as Tommy Robinson back onto his social media platform X, said Joe Mulhall, director of research at Hope not Hate, the anti-fascism organisation. “The initial disinformation and anger was being perpetrated by individuals on Twitter, for example, that have been previously deplatformed,” he said. “And now they’ve been replatformed.”

Robinson was permanently banned from the platform (then called Twitter) in March 2018, then reinstated in November last year, after Musk bought it. “We hadn’t seen any significant numbers at any demonstrations since 2018,” Mulhall added.

An example of the danger posed by the misuse of social media was revealed in Stoke-on-Trent, where police were forced to deny there had been a stabbing, countering claims made on social media. “There is growing speculation that a stabbing has taken place as a result of the disorder today. We can confirm this information is false and no stabbings have been reported to police or emergency responders, despite videos fuelling speculation on social media,” police said.

The danger of such intervention was stressed by Ben-Julian “BJ” Harrington, the National Police Chiefs Council lead for public order, who condemned social media disinformation as a cause of last week’s disorder.

He said: “We had reports today that two people had been stabbed by Muslims in Stoke – it’s just not true. There’s people out there, not even in this country, circulating and stoking up hatred, division and concerns in communities that they don’t care about, don’t know and don’t understand.”

[nic-coughlan]

what is happening in the UK with the far right protests is absolutely terrifying. all from misinformation which has fuelled an ongoing racist agenda

but on a brighter note people are coming together to fight back. peacefully.

[the-desolated-quill]

There’s talk of extraditing US citizens to face criminal charges for the role they played in inciting the riots here in the UK, and that’s good to hear, but let’s not forget the biggest instigator of them all. Elon Musk used the algorithm to spread fake news articles and conspiracy theories, directly supporting the Nazis and the far right under the guise of ‘defending free speech.’ His actions directly contravene the Online Safety Act and could also come under the legal definition of terrorism. He needs to face charges for his criminal behaviour. No amount of money should protect you from the law. Unless there are legal repercussions, he will continue to spread hate and misinformation, which could lead to further violence later down the line.

[lucky-joyous]

Absolutely sickened with the state of our country right now, I’ve never been a “proud” Brit but now I’m actually ashamed to be British. If you support the riots, the EDL, Katie Hopkins, Nigel farage etc then block me I don’t want to ever interact with you. There is a racism epidemic in our country right now and it needs to be eradicated, now.

[psychic-waffles]

Cw: child death, racism (particularly islamophobia)

The last couple of days have seen multiple full blown fascist riots in the UK and we're likely to see more over the weekend.

On Monday there was a horrific incident where a 17 year old attacked a dance school in Southport, killing three children and injuring many more. Because of the attacker's age his name has not been released, however the far right quickly started circulating a made up name and said the attacker was Muslim and an immigrant.

On Tuesday, when a vigil was being held in the town for the victims, fascists travelled to Southport and started a riot, centering around attacking a mosque. I really don't have words for how disgusting it is to use the death of children to further their violently racist agenda and take all of this out on a grieving town.

Following this there were multiple fascist riots on Wednesday, the largest of which being in London and Hartlepool. These involved further attacks on mosques, surrounding hotels where asylum seekers were being housed, and attacking brown and black people on the street and in their homes.

There are plans by the far right to hold multiple further rallies over the next few days, I've seen particular mention of Liverpool tomorrow (Friday) and Middlesbrough on Sunday, but I think it's likely we'll see violence across the UK.

There is also a huge demo for Palestine organised for Saturday which involves action across the country and with a march in London, and quite frankly I will be shocked if the fash don't try to disrupt that in any way, so just be prepared that there is a heightened risk of violence.

Overall in response to the riots there's been a lot of talk about the spread of misinformation and how that needs to be tackled, and while this is true it doesn't address the fact that the majority of these fascists really don't care. Even if the attacker had been Muslim or had been an immigrant, that doesn't give anyone the right to try and attack every Muslim and immigrant in the country. This couldn't have and hasn't been stopped by correcting a bit of misinformation, this is about decades of deeply racist islamophobic and anti-immigrant rhetoric baked into the core of the UK and reinforced constantly by the media and politicians across the spectrum as ""legitimate concerns"".

Right now we need community support more than ever. Organise, protect your local Muslim communities, and of course stay safe.

Edit: while I was writing this post the name of the attacker was released as Axel Rudakubana. As I have already said the fash do not care, and islamaphobic and anti-immigrant violence will almost definitely continue, however there will now likely also be an increase in anti-black violence and we need to be prepared for that.

2nd edit: check my reblogs for more info on specific places they're planning to target

[felucians]

UK poc, take care of your mental health as well as your safety. Check in with your friends, family and local community.

We all need each other right now

[lopsidedtreetrunks]

This is where the racists are planning on "protesting" rioting this evening. If you live in or around these areas, please stay safe indoors.