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06-08-2024
LONDON/ Far-right demonstrators have vandalized a hotel housing asylum seekers in the northern England town of Rotherham, as the United Kingdom grapples with its worst riots in 13 years.
On Sunday, hundreds of people gathered by a Holiday Inn Express hotel used to house asylum seekers near Rotherham, before throwing bricks at police and breaking several hotel windows, and then setting bins on fire.
Footage from UK broadcaster Sky News showed a line of police officers with shields facing a barrage of missiles, including bits of wood, chairs and fire extinguishers, as they sought to prevent the rioters from entering the hotel.
A police helicopter circled overhead, and at least one injured officer in riot gear was carried away as the atmosphere turned increasingly febrile.
The unrest is the latest bout of rioting in the UK that has gripped the nation, following a stabbing rampage at a dance class last week in the north of England that left three girls dead and several wounded.
According to police officials, false rumors spread online that the young man in the Southport stabbing was a Muslim and an immigrant, fueling anger among the far-right in the country.
Speaking on Sunday, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “there is no justification” for the far-right violence, which has led to attacks on mosques and assaults on Muslims and ethnic minorities.
“People in this country have a right to be safe and yet we have seen Muslim communities targeted and attacks on mosques,” Starmer said.
The prime minister added that “he won’t shy away from calling it [the rioting] what it is” and that is “far-right thuggery”.
“To those who feel targeted because of the color of your skin or your faith, I know how frightening this must be,” he said.
“I want you to know this violent mob do not represent this country and we will bring them to justice.”
Starmer had been criticised by some for not being vocal enough in denouncing the explicitly racist and Islamophobic nature of some of the attacks committed by those rioting.
Zarah Sultana, a Labour MP who is currently suspended from the party for voting against the government, called on social media for Parliament to be recalled from its summer break.
Elsewhere in the UK, the atmosphere has also been particularly tense. In the northeast town of Middleborough, protesters broke free of a police guard. As protests began in Bolton, near Manchester, police said that a dispersal notice had been authorized to give officers extra powers to tackle anti-social behavior.
Police officials have said many of the actions are being organized online by shadowy far-right groups, who are mobilizing support online with phrases like “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats”. They are tapping into a narrative amplified by right-wing media outlets and commentators about the scale of immigration in the country, in particular the tens of thousands of migrants and refugees arriving in small boats from France across the English Channel.
Critics have repeatedly pointed out that the spread of misinformation and the amplification of xenophobic rhetoric about immigrants and minority communities in the UK has led to the current outbreak of violence.
Rosa Freedman, a professor at the University of Reading, told media that the riots in the UK are a result of the former Conservative government, which lost power last month, giving legitimacy to a small minority of “racists”. (Int’l News Desk)
