Extreme right against uncontrolled migration
About 10 days have passed since the start of protests and riots in several cities in Britain, but all aspects of this challenge are still unclear.
Authorities and experts are trying to address the violent demonstrations and riots that continue in several cities in Britain.
According to experts, unprecedented riots in Britain are attributed to a combination of deep-rooted migration issues, provocative online troublemakers, mismanagement of the police, and even the hot summer weather.
The mainstream media, as expected, point the finger towards what they oppose and label it as extreme right-wingers.
However, the issue is not as simple, and the consequences of uncontrolled acceptance of migrants, among whom supporters of extremist and terrorist ideologies are also present, are gradually becoming apparent in various parts of the world.
The spark of violence in Britain was ignited by a stabbing incident in Southport, where three young girls were killed in a knife attack in a tourist club with a theme related to the famous singer Taylor Swift.
It was later revealed that the suspect in the Southampton Excel attack is named Moganoa Rodakobana, a 17-year-old boy born to Rwandan parents in Cardiff.
A fake news site immediately mistakenly claimed after the attack that the assailant is an illegal immigrant whose name is on the terrorism watchlist and arrived in Britain by boat.
Rioters in cities such as Rotherham, Tamworth, Manchester, Hull, Liverpool, Bristol, Blackpool, Plymouth, Birmingham, and Belfast have clashed with police since that day. Experts and former officials are trying to explain the causes of unrest and the extensive implications these events have on the country’s social fabric.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain promised after an emergency COBRA meeting last week that what he calls far-right lawbreakers will be handed over to justice and committed to deploying a solid force of police officers to tackle the riots.
Since the start of the violence, over 500 people have been arrested. The National Police Chiefs’ Council has warned that the number of arrests is expected to increase day by day.
Rioters and opposing protesters against immigration, mainly white people, attacked two asylum seekers living in Halle Express and targeted mosques. Another center named Asylum Link Merseyside announced the temporary closure of its offices due to extremist violence threats.
Other cities have also witnessed large-scale arson attacks, and rioters have thrown stones and Molotov cocktails towards the police.
The rioters are now clashing with Muslim groups. Criminal gangs in Stock and Birmingham are armed with knives and spears, reacting to riots by attacking cafes and cars.
Double standards
Various opinions have been presented regarding the nature, causes, and solutions to the riots.
Former anti-terrorism police chief Neil Basu said that some instances of violence during the riots have surpassed the threshold of terrorism.
We have witnessed extremely violent behaviors aimed at instilling fear in a part of society. However, Conservative politician Dona Jones and the top commissioner of the British police stated that the protesters aim to protect British sovereignty and uphold British values, facing criticism from media and leftist movements.
He still demanded the preservation of calm and added that the government must accept what factor has caused the civil unrest to prevent it, he added that detaining individuals and deploying anti-violence units soothes the symptoms but does not address the root cause.
These individuals have questions for which they seek answers. What is the government’s solution to unregulated and uncontrollable migration?
Security expert Will Geddes told Epoch Times that they have not addressed one of Britain’s key issues, which is clearly illegal migration.
One of the biggest challenges and mistakes of Keir Starmer is that he equates anyone who protests, whether peaceful or those who resort to violence, as extremists. He added that the issue is that there is a significant population in Britain feeling despair and frustration. He said one of the biggest mistakes the police made was not being transparent to calm the people down. Instead, what they are doing is trying to prevent racial conflicts that have arisen as a result of these events.
He added that the problem now is that when the police intervened and said that the assailant is not an illegal immigrant but a British national and not a terrorist, the matter had already escalated.
Gaddes also believes that some social media accounts that fuel tensions are likely linked to foreign hostile countries such as Russia and China.
Institutions like the National Crime Agency are investigating whether foreign government actors have been involved in misinformation or not.
Gaddes, referring to the fact that the Prime Minister has united everyone and instead of resolving the crisis, has exacerbated it, said that the incident and the issues we face are that there are parties with legitimate grievances who want to pursue their protests.
On the other hand, you have right-wing extremists who are a minority, as Kier Starmer says, they are not the majority.
And of course, there are also criminals who fish in troubled waters and use anything to fuel the fire.
He also said that the hot weather last week further exacerbated the crisis.
He added, ‘What I can tell you about dealing with riots and similar incidents is that if it had rained there, the streets would not have attracted such a crowd.’
Professor Matt Goodwin, a public opinion expert at YouGov, said that the cause of riots and anti-immigrant protests goes beyond misinformation and social media.
He said, ‘In my opinion, what these protests reflect is a deep dissatisfaction of people with uncontrolled and unregulated immigration, the breakdown of national borders, and an ineffective multiculturalism model that not only fails to unite people but drives them apart.’
He said, ‘These are deep-seated grievances that have developed over the past 20 to 30 years.’
He added, ‘Our major concern is that these riots seem to reflect ethnic tensions, which in turn speak of the failure of multiculturalism policies that essentially have driven different groups towards separate lives rather than bringing them together through a common narrative.’
He said that this situation has escalated to some extent due to the leftist identity policies that encourage people to gather along racial, religious, and national lines. He added that, as a result, with the British whites who have gathered along these lines and become obsessive about identity policies, what we currently see on the streets should not really be surprising.
He said these protests are much more important because there are many more protesters, they are more dispersed, and have involved more cities. I think they are also more important because politicians seem confused when facing them.
I can predict the continuation of these riots.
Professor Guitian Prince, retired professor of the London School of Economics and consultant to NATO and the Ministry of Defense, also said that the essence of Britain’s street unrest is a toxic concoction.
He said that the long-standing trend of moral disarmament continues, and added that the erosion of people’s trust by the ruling class has fueled people’s anger due to those who could not fulfill their promises.
He added that this anger has intensified due to the quarantines.
Prince stated that the above issues clearly relate to the loss of control over migration since 1997, which has also become entangled with the systematic distortion of the country’s history. Norman Brennan, a retired London police officer and a supporter of law and order who served in the police for 42 years, said that the incident that occurred was due to deceit.
He said that these events, based on discussions from the past 10 or 15 years, if not more, validate my assertion that there is a deep resentment among the people of Britain. He also referred to the riots of 2011, which began in Tottenham following the killing of Mark Duggan, a 29-year-old black criminal, by the police, and spread throughout the country. He said that all riots in Britain have had ethnic roots.
He said that if you engage in violence or unrest on the streets of London or anywhere in Britain, it is right that you be dealt with. However, he said that he is not surprised by these events and if illegal migration 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 inmates who have served only 40% of their sentences, stating that they have started emptying the prisons.
Doing this in a country under the pressure of lawlessness and irregularity carries a significant meaning and concept. He added that the storm has turned into a tsunami.
Alternative Narratives
Professor Matthew Feldman, an analyst of right-wing extremism, identified three groups of right-wing extremists among the protesters.
These individuals include right-wing extremist influencers in the virtual space, right-wing extremists associated with groups like Alternative Homeland First in Britain, and a third group.
The fact that the targeted places are places of worship, especially Muslim places of worship, or refugee housing locations, is one of the issues that right-wing extremists have been focusing on for decades.
He told the media that he cannot yet say that all the thousands of people participating in these protests are from the right-wing extremist faction.
He claimed that in my opinion, we should separate supporters of this group from individuals who are seriously racist. It is not so wrong to label them as extreme rightists because they are associated with the crimes of extreme rightists. But I think we can better deal with understanding the current movements of individuals who incite hatred, individuals who are influenced by incitement of hatred, and individuals who may be doing hateful acts.
He said we should separate supporters from actors and look at the story through alternative narratives to understand how we can interact with this group.
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