Far-right against uncontrolled immigration
About 10 days have passed since the protests and riots began in several cities in Britain, but all aspects of this challenge have not yet been clarified.
Officials and experts are trying to understand the violent demonstrations and riots that continue in several cities in Britain.
According to Shargh, experts attribute the unprecedented riots in Britain to a combination of deep-rooted issues such as immigration, online instigators, misinformation by extremists, police mismanagement, and even the warm summer weather.
As expected, the mainstream media has pointed the finger of blame at what opposes their views, labeling them as far-right extremists.
However, the issue is not that simple, and the consequences of accepting migrants without regulation, among whom there are supporters of extremist and terrorist ideologies, are gradually becoming apparent in different parts of the world.
The spark for the violence in Britain was ignited by a stabbing incident in Southport, a crime in which three young girls were killed in a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed tourism club.
It was later revealed that the suspect in the Southport attack is named Axel Muganwa Rudakubana, a 17-year-old boy born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents.
A fake news site immediately after this attack mistakenly announced that the assailant was an illegal immigrant whose name was on a terrorism watchlist and had come to Britain by boat.
Since then, rioters have clashed with police in cities like Rotherham, Tamworth, Manchester, Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Blackpool, Plymouth, Birmingham, and Belfast. As tensions escalate, experts and former officials are trying to explain the causes of the unrest and the broader implications these events have for the country’s social fabric.
Sir Keir Starmer, the British Prime Minister, promised after last week’s emergency Cobra meeting to bring what he calls far-right lawbreakers to justice and pledged to deploy a steady army of police officers to tackle the riots.
Since the violence began, more than 500 people have been arrested. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has warned that the number of arrests is expected to increase daily.
Rioters and anti-immigration protesters, who are mostly white, attacked two asylum seekers residing at the Holiday Inn Express and targeted mosques. Another center named Asylum Link Merseyside announced that it has temporarily closed its offices due to threats of extremist violence.
Other cities have also witnessed large-scale arson, with rioters throwing stones and firecrackers at the police.
Rioters are now clashing with Muslim groups, with gangs in Stoke and Birmingham arming themselves with knives and machetes, reacting to the riots by attacking cafes and cars.
Division
Various opinions have been presented about the nature, cause, and solution to the riots.
Neil Basu, former head of counter-terrorism police, said that some of the violence during the riots has crossed the threshold of terrorism.
We have witnessed extremely violent behaviors aimed at instilling fear in parts of the community. However, Donna Jones, a Conservative politician and high-ranking British police commissioner, was criticized by media and leftist groups for stating that the protesting groups want to protect British sovereignty and uphold British values.
At the same time, she called for calm and added that the government must accept what has caused the civil unrest to prevent it. She added that arresting individuals and deploying anti-violence units alleviate symptoms but do not address the root cause.
These individuals have questions they want answers to. What is the government’s solution to uncontrolled and unregulated immigration?
Will Geddes, a security affairs expert, told The Epoch Times that they have not addressed one of Britain’s major issues, which is specifically illegal immigration.
One of Keir Starmer’s biggest challenges and mistakes is labeling anyone who protests, let alone those who riot, as far-right extremists. He added that the issue is that a significant population in Britain feels despair and frustration. He said one of the biggest mistakes the police made was not clarifying to calm people down. Instead, what they are doing is trying to prevent racial conflicts that have arisen following these events.
He added that now the problem is that when the police intervened and said the assailant is not an illegal immigrant but a British citizen and not a terrorist, it was too late.
Geddes also believes that some social media accounts fueling the tensions are likely influenced by hostile foreign countries like Russia and China.
Institutions like the National Crime Agency are investigating whether foreign state actors have been involved in spreading misinformation.
Geddes, noting that the Prime Minister has lumped everyone together, exacerbating the crisis instead of resolving it, said the issue we are facing is that there are people with legitimate protests who want to pursue their grievances.
On the other hand, you have far-right lawbreakers who are in the minority, as Keir Starmer says, they are not the majority.
And of course, there are criminals who take advantage of the chaos and use anything to incite violence.
He also said the warm weather last week exacerbated the situation.
He added, and what I can tell you about dealing with riot groups and similar cases is that if it were raining there, the streets wouldn’t have seen such crowds.
Professor Matt Goodwin, a public opinion polling expert, told The Epoch Times that the cause of the riots and anti-immigration protests goes beyond misinformation, false narratives, and social media.
He said, in my opinion, what these protests reflect is the deep dissatisfaction of the people with uncontrolled and unregulated immigration, the collapse of national borders, and the ineffective multicultural model that not only fails to unite people but also fuels their division.
He said these are deep grievances that have formed over the past 20 to 30 years.
He added, our major concern is that these riots seem to reflect ethnic conflicts, which in turn indicate the failure of multicultural policies that essentially push different groups towards living apart rather than bringing them together through a shared narrative.
He said this is partly intensified by left-wing identity politics that encourage people to gather along racial, religious, and ethnic lines. He added, therefore, considering British whites who have gathered along these lines and become obsessed with identity politics, what we see in the streets now should not really be surprising.
He said these protests are of much greater significance, as the number of protesters is much larger, they are more widespread, and have involved more cities. I think they are of greater importance because politicians seem confused in dealing with them.
I can predict the continuation of these riots.
Professor Gwythian Prins, a retired professor at the London School of Economics and advisor to NATO and the Ministry of Defense, also said that the essence of Britain’s street unrest is a toxic concoction.
He said the longstanding trend of moral disarmament has continued and added that the systematic erosion of public trust by the ruling class has ignited the people’s anger, fueled by those who failed to fulfill their promises.
He added that this anger has been intensified by the lockdowns.
Prins said that the above issues are specifically related to the loss of control over immigration since 1997, which is also tied to the systematic belittlement of the country’s history. Norman Brennan, a retired London police officer and law and order advocate who served for 42 years, said what happened was due to lies.
He said these events validate discussions I’ve had over the past 10 or 15 years, if not more, that there is a deep resentment among the British people. He also referred to the 2011 riots that followed the police killing of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old black criminal, in Tottenham, which spread across the country. He said all riots in Britain have had ethnic roots.
He said that if you incite violence or unrest on the streets of London or anywhere in Britain, the right thing to do is to deal with you. However, he said he was not surprised by these events and that if illegal immigration is not seriously addressed, the riots will continue.
He also warned about the government’s plans to expedite the punishment of rioters and reduce the growing prison population by releasing thousands of prisoners who have only served 40% of their sentences. He said they have started emptying the prisons.
What does it mean to do this in a country under the pressure of crime, law, and disorder? He added the storm has turned into a tsunami.
Alternative narratives
Professor Matthew Feldman, an analyst of far-right extremism, identified three groups among the protesters.
These individuals include far-right influencers on social media, far-right individuals associated with groups like Britain First and a third group.
The fact that the targeted places are places of worship, especially Muslim places of worship, or asylum seeker accommodations, is among the issues that the far-right has been fueling for decades.
He told PA Media that I still can’t say that the thousands of people participating in these protests are all from the far-right.
He claimed, in my opinion, we should separate the supporters of this group from those who are seriously racist. Of course, branding them all as far-right extremists is not entirely wrong because they have aligned with far-right crimes, but I think we can do better in understanding the current movements of those who fuel hate, those influenced by hate, and those who may commit hateful acts.
He said we need to separate supporters from perpetrators and look at the situation through the lens of alternative narratives to understand how we can engage with this crowd.