Racial Hatred Escalates on Britain’s Streets

Ishtiaq Ahmed 

Bradford: For over one week, Britain’s towns and cities have been besieged by the mindless far-right violence. The list of towns and cities under attack is expanding on a daily basis. There are no visible signs yet of it subsiding.

The current ‘mayhem’ was initially triggered by the fatal stabbing of three young girls in the English town of Southport by a 17 year old Rwandan. Fuelled by the misinformation  as to the faith identity of the young culprit, initially claimed to be of a Muslim faith,  the   towns and cities across England have been subjected to the level of sustained violence  never seen or experienced before.

The far-right throughout the week have been targeting mosques, Muslim neighbourhoods, businesses and  more sinisterly buildings housing  immigrants and asylum seekers, and,  not even sparing,  the police officers on duty and police stations.

Evidently, the violence against Muslims, other immigrant communities and the asylum seekers has the hallmark of being premeditated and well planned. It is not difficult to deduce that even the initial false information about the identity of a young murderer being of a Muslim faith  may have been carefully planted and manipulated to provide a pretext to target the Muslim Community.

Read More: https://thepenpk.com/violence-against-british-muslims-on-british-streets/

Inevitably, there are some critical questions that require some proper answers , for example, what was the initial  source of  misinformation? 

Who was behind it and what was the actual motivation? 

When was the real identity of the culprit established and how long did it take authorities for this information to be made available to the public? 

Could It have been done earlier?

It is simply not good enough to apportion the blame to the social platforms. Of course, these were tools used to convey and spread the misinformation but these cant be considered the instigators.

Against the background of violence not subsiding, Sir Keir Starmar’s Labour government of late has been pushed to take a firm line against the rioters. 

Sir Keir Starmar has pledged that the rioters will  “pay the price” . He added that the government will “ramp up” criminal justice; apply criminal law online as well as offline; and  will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on Muslim communities. The rioters behind violent disorder will rapidly face “ the full force of the law”. 

The UK Prime Minister also told his cabinet colleagues that ongoing violence “is not protest- it is violent disorder and needs to be treated as such, as criminal activity”.

Over 500 additional prison spaces have been created to ensure that those taking part in the violence could be jailed. The Justice Minister Heidi Alexander  said there was a “ prison place waiting “ for  those involved in the violence. 

The General Director of Public Prosecution , Mr Stephen Parkinson, told BBC that the Prosecutors are considering terrorism offences for some suspects. Approximately 100 of the 400 people arrested over the disorder so far have been charged, he added.

The government should have an urgent look at declaring the English Defence League (EDL) a terrorist organisation damaging to the safety and peace of the nation.

The special police trained in riot combat and management Is being deployed to support police forces. However, there are also calls for the mobilisation of military to support the police forces.

However, the Prime Minister has come under criticism from  Elon Musk, the tech billionaire  for saying that he will not tolerate attacks on mosques or on  Muslim communities.  Musk posted on X “shouldn’t you be concerned about attacks on all communities”. 

Justice Minister Heidi Alexander said the criticism of the prime minister was “ totally unjustifiable  and “ pretty deplorable”.

Read More:https://thepenpk.com/uk-mosques-targeted-in-far-right-unrest/

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said that the government will not tolerate arm chair “Thuggery” and social media companies need to “take responsibility” for online posts encouraging criminality”.

The online Safety Act which became law in 2023 but has not yet fully come into effect, will require social media firms to “take robust action against illegal content and activity including “ racially and religiously aggravated offences as well as inciting violence”.

The crime offences will cover sending “threatening communications” online and sharing false information intended to cause non-trivial harm.

While the British government is on the front foot to protect its towns and cities and its  citizens, one would have thought that the Pakistani government may have shown some visible signs of being concerned about the safety and wellbeing of the Pakistani diaspora in Britain. 

Unfortunately, Pakistani leaders are unable to lift their heads above the parapet of self-indulgence. So sad. 

One would presume that the Pakistani government would claim that this is an internal British matter thus overlooking the fact that Hundreds of thousands of its Pakistani citizens are also caught in this ‘mayhem’. The attitude of ‘out of sight, out of mind’ is unbecoming of any government. 

Meanwhile, Faith and civic in the affected towns and cities are reaching out to their respective communities in the spirit of solidarity.

In Bradford, the Right Reverend Toby Howarth, Bishop Bradford, in partnership with  Bradford & District Bradford Council for Mosques, Sikh, Hindu and Jew faith leaders has issued a joint statement.

Also, various stakeholders are linking up on a daily basis to monitor the situation, reassure the community and be ready to respond to  the violence if it spills over to Bradford.

The author is a British citizen of Pakistani origin with a keen interest in Pakistani and international affairs.

The article is the writer’s opinion, it may or may not adhere to the organization’s editorial policy.