What caused the riots in Southport?
Amid anger at the Merseyside stabbing attack, a false claim on an obscure news site created a viral storm that was latched on to by far-right extremists linked to the English Defence League
Twelve years ago an obscure news site was sharing videos of Russians carrying out drag racing in the snow in Izhevsk, a western city best known for its Kalashnikov museum.
This week Channel 3 Now was at the centre of an online disinformation storm resulting in riots in Southport, after it falsely blamed the mass stabbing of children on a fictitious asylum seeker on a security watchlist.
It took only 24 hours for the lies to translate into violence, making it one of the fastest and most “effective” fake news campaigns in Britain in the social media era.
Andrew Tate, the misogynist online influencer, told millions of followers that “when the invaders slaughter your daughters you do absolutely f**king nothing”. Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the far-right English Defence League, called on the government to “close our borders, deport all these wrong ’uns”, later adding: “What will it take for you to be angry enough to do something about this?”
Anthony Fowler, a former Olympic boxer, got four million views when he accused a “Syrian fella” of attacking young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event.
At the heart of the disinformation was Channel 3 Now, which — ironically — claims to be a trusted source of accurate news. At about 5.30pm on Monday, only a few hours after Merseyside police confirmed a major incident, it posted false claims that a named asylum seeker on a MI6 watchlist was responsible.
In an already febrile online environment, the news went viral and was amplified by high-profile accounts including the Russian state broadcaster RT. It was disseminated on Facebook, Twitter/X and far-right channels on Telegram called Reality Reports, Dismantling the Cabal and Freedom Warriors.
The origins of Channel 3 Now, whose IP is owned by two people in Pakistan, are curious. Twelve years ago its YouTube account shared only videos of Russian drag racers, before it morphed five years ago into clickbait stories using the name Fox 3 Now. It was sued by Fox Media Corp and changed to Channel 3 Now, registered in Lithuania. Russian operations often seed news stories in countries with less scrutiny around media organisations, according to Logically, a company that combats disinformation.
Tech Against Terrorism, a UN-created group that fights online disinformation, warned that the “chain of events could be a reflection of nation-state disinformation efforts feeding extremism to destabilise the UK”.
Channel 3 Now apologised, having previously deleted the post on its website and Twitter/X, but the fake Muslim name was still being circulated on social media.
Even after police said that the name was false and that the 17-year-old suspect — who has since been charged with murder and attempted murder — was born in Cardiff, it was seized upon as a reason to rise up and protest. Posts linked it to other recent prominent murders, immigration crime and terrorism. One analyst said that within 24 hours there were at least 27 million impressions for posts speculating that the perpetrator was Muslim, a migrant, a refugee or a foreigner.
Nigel Farage, the Reform MP, was accused by Brendan Cox, husband of the murdered MP Jo Cox, of being “Tommy Robinson in a suit” after he questioned “whether the truth is being withheld from us”. In a video posted online at 5.45pm on Tuesday, Farage said: “Was this guy being monitored by the security services? Some reports say he was, others less sure.”
The far right had been agitating for protest since the evening of the stabbings. At 8.27pm on Monday, Europe Invasion, a Twitter/X account which posts almost exclusively about immigrants, posted a picture of a bleeding young girl given first aid on the street: “2 British children were stabbed and killed by a Muslim today because the borders are open. Enough!”
Twenty minutes later Tate posted about “unchecked migrants”, saying: “I don’t see any protests in the UK, nobody is complaining. I don’t see anybody outside of the school, nobody’s outside the police station. The soul of the western man is so broken that when the invaders slaughter your daughters you do absolutely f**king nothing.”
Robinson, who has a warrant out for his arrest, accused police of “managing what they tell us about the slaughter of children in Southport …. And managing our response to it”.
Supporters mobilised and shared information about a rally on social media, including Telegram chat groups. The local mosque was surrounded as violence erupted on Tuesday night, with more than 50 police officers injured as rioters chanted Islamophobic slurs and Robinson’s name.
Merseyside police said the demonstration was organised by the English Defence League. The anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate said the EDL no longer exists but some who attended had links to other far-right groups including Patriotic Alternative, a white supremacist movement.
Supporters wore shirts saying “Free Melia”, a reference to Sam Melia, a leading member of Patriotic Alternative who was sentenced to two years prison for race hate offences.
Merseyside police called in support from forces across the region to try to avoid a second night of rioting, but far right groups were said to be planning a further rally for Saturday afternoon.
Police also issued a 24-hour Section 60 Order, which is designed to minimise serious violence and gives them greater powers to stop and search anyone suspected of carrying weapons or engaging in criminality.
Serena Kennedy, the chief constable of Merseyside, visited the scene of Tuesday’s violence and said that protesters were there “purely for hooliganism and thuggery”.
She added: “I am absolutely appalled and disgusted at the level of violence that was shown towards my officers. These are the same officers who have been supporting this community for the last 48 hours. Some of the first responders who attended that awful scene on Monday were then faced with that level of violence.”
On Wednesday evening scuffles broke out with police outside Downing Street as far-right protests at the stabbings spread to the capital.
Several hundred people gathered on Whitehall and in Parliament Square letting off flares, chanting “we want our country back” and throwing missiles at police.
The Metropolitan Police had earlier warned that “any disorder will be dealt with swiftly”, and more than 100 people were arrested for offences including violent disorder, assault on an emergency worker, and breach of protest conditions during the protests around Downing Street and Westminster. Some officers suffered minor injuries.
There was also disorder in Hartlepool in the northeast on Wednesday night where about 100 protesters gathered in the town centre and threw rocks and other missiles at riot police holding shields.
Cleveland police confirmed they had blocked off and shut an area around Murray Street in response to the protests, adding that they had made “several arrests”. Witnesses said officers had also been stationed outside a nearby mosque.
