As police brace themselves for further far-right protests across the country, we asked Mirror readers if they were worried about the rise of ultra nationalism.
In our poll Are you worried about the rise of the far-right? 2,178 readers said yes, while 1,224 said no.
Violent riots erupted across many UK cities following the brutal murders of three young girls that left many others injured in an attack in Southport, Merseyside last week. Misinformation quickly spread online that the suspect was a Muslim refugee, but it later emerged that the person arrested was born in Cardiff to Rwandan parents.
Fuelled by wild rumours on social media and anti-immigrant views, right-wing mobs soon organised dozens of protests from Liverpool to Hull, and Middlesbrough to Plymouth, with many heard chanting anti-Islam and anti-immigration slogans. Many of the protests descended into outright violence with hotels housing migrants and refugees being set on fire and police being attacked at multiple riots.
A supposed ‘target list’ of 38 areas where riots are said to be planned today has leaked on social media – and a police source said the force was treating it as a ‘credible threat’. As many as 2,000 more officers are said to be being drafted in.
Back in 2021, the head of MI5, Ken McCallum, described far-right extremism as the greatest domestic terror threat facing Britain. Nick Lowles, managing director of anti-racism and fascism group Hope Not Hate, told the Mirror this week that far-right opportunism is ‘ripping communities apart’.
Following the tragic events in Southport, he says far-right figures have managed to sow division and hate in an alarmingly quick timeframe. He said: “They couldn’t even bring themselves to wait a few hours before they began posting misinformation on social media, making baseless claims about the identity of the attacker and calling for their supporters to take to the streets. Their opportunism is ripping communities apart. Sadly, the actions of the far right this week do not come as a surprise, tensions have been bubbling away for years.”
Nick went on to say: “The last Government were the architects of a broken asylum system, but instead of focusing on fixing it for people seeking sanctuary, and addressing the needs of communities, they doubled down on a divisive agenda which the far right have latched onto with dangerous consequences for communities. The new Government must take decisive action, not simply treat the symptom of far right aggression but address the cause – a lack of community cohesion and understanding.”
‘This violence scares the life out of me’
His opinion piece atttracted more than 1.5k comments. Here’s just a selection of what some of you had to say:
Bella257781: “It’s true, something needs to be done by the government, we don’t want any of this violent behaviour around the country. Why have the government not even seen the frustration and anger building up and down the country? They are responsible for our country and everyone in it. We want them to do what they are paid to do. Don’t know about anyone else, but this violence scares the life out of me, but if I hear a couple having a really heated argument the hairs stand up on the back of my neck.”
Looprevil1: “Courts need to be sitting through the night to deal with these yobs … If we had the 20,000 police officers on the streets that the Tories cut, then these yobs would’ve been dealt with. This is all the Tories’ fault, shame on them … it’s just yobs out to cause mayhem and chaos for local residents. Empty the jails of people who haven’t paid fines and lock the yobs up for years instead.”
Patmc1956: “We live in a country which is multi racial and multi cultural so learn to live with it. If you can’t, well hard luck. Violent demonstrations are not the answer. If you condone the violent right-wing demonstrators it just proves what sad little Englanders you are and why the English are despised by our European neighbours.”
Ghostwriter: “Breaking the laws of the country you claim to represent by joining a lawless mob, makes someone a criminal, not a patriot …”
What do YOU think? There’s still plenty of time to take the poll:
If you can’t see the poll, click here