On the 29th of July, Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, were murdered by 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance and yoga event in Southport. Eight children as well as two adults were also seriously injured during the violence. While it is not confirmed whether the motive behind the attack was misogynistic, it cannot be ruled out; especially given the rise in “incel culture” among young men in the UK today, as evidenced by the growing number of misogynistic incidents reported to Prevent, a government-led, counter-extremism strategy, by schools.
On the 30th of July, a vigil was held in Southport in honour of the victims. Within a few hours, the site of the vigil transformed into a violent demonstration involving rioters, including members of the English Defence League (EDL) and other far-right groups. This was due to disinformation circulating social media regarding the perpetrator's identity after Channel3Now, an unreliable news website, falsely named the individual and claimed that the perpetrator was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat within the past year, despite the fact that he is originally from Cardiff. The rioters, ranging in age from twelve to sixty-nine, started by pelting bricks at police officers and setting police vans ablaze, eventually targeting mosques and accommodations housing asylum seekers.
Approximately 1,000 arrests have been made following the violence, with officers and prosecutors still in the process of identifying the suspects involved.
Not only have these riots overshadowed and exploited the families’ grief, but they have also increased the vulnerability of marginalised women to hate crimes, demonstrated by the rise in racist and Islamophobic attacks across the nation. In fact, Muslim Women’s Network surveyed 200 of its members on how safe they had felt in the UK before and after the riots, in which the percentage of those who felt unsafe increased from 16% to 75%. In fact, one in five have said that they themselves have encountered hostility since the Southport stabbings, highlighting the prevalence of the issue.
Women’s Aid have also released a statement regarding the impact of the riots on women subjected to domestic violence. Specifically, a significant number of women seeking refuge at the targeted hotels, such as the Holiday Inn in Tamworth, both asylum seekers and non-asylum seekers, were escaping domestic abuse and so, have been severely affected by the actions of the extreme right.
In response to the violence, Yvette Cooper, home secretary, has ordered a review of the UK’s counter-extremism strategy. This review will analyse the rise of far-right extremism in the UK as well as other ideological trends, including extreme misogyny and “Incel culture”. Set to be completed in October, this review will also identify the causes and conduct of the radicalisation of young people and how to divert people away from them.
L.Webb
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