A lot of news articles in the UK are referring to recent gatherings by far right groups as “protests” even though there have been violent clashes with police, property damage, looting and more.
An example of a few of them:
Source: The London Economic: Protesters in Sunderland loot vape shops and burn down Citizens Advice
Source: BBC News: Police separate rival protests in several cities, with pockets of disorder
Source: Aljazeera: Far-right riots flare in Sunderland amid ongoing UK anti-immigrant protests
None of what these people are doing falls under the accepted definition of a protest, but they do fall under the definition of a riot.
Because of the media’s seeming reluctance to call what’s happing by it’s actual name I thought we should take a look at what a protest is, what a riot is and why the media are failing to call out these vicious thugs – because, let’s face it, that’s exactly what they are and I will say it even if MSM won’t.
What Started The “Protests”?
On Monday the 29th of July 2024 a 17-year-old male forced his way into a Taylor Swift themed dance workshop in Southport, Merseyside, and stabbed 13 people.
Three children died and two adults and 8 children were seriously injured.
Because of the age of the suspect, the police were legally unable to release his name and this is where the disinformation started.
A website purporting to be a bona fide news organisation called Channel 3 Now (I won’t link to them for reasons that will become apparent) published a story regarding the stabbings and named the perpetrator as “Ali Al-Shakati”.
The problem? Well it wasn’t that as the suspect was under 17 they shouldn’t have released the name in the first place, it was that this name was entirely fictitious.
The Channel 3 Now website, according to The Guardian “mixes potentially AI-generated US and UK news content and is styled like a mainstream American network news channel”[1]The Guardian: Misinformation about Southport attack suspect spreads on social media with other sources saying the “news” site has links to Russia[2]Manchester Evening News: What caused the Southport riots?
The suspect was later named as Axel Rudakubana[3]Wikipedia: 2024 Southport stabbing but the damage was already done, a “Muslim sounding” name was out in the wild and this drove the far-right anti-immigration Twittersphere into a meltdown.
Source: Twitter/@KTHopkins
She also posted this video on a few hours later:
Source: Twitter: Katie Hopkins
The majority of the tweets mentioning the incorrect name have now been removed, but one thing that does remain up is a Twitter video from Nigel Farage where he’s asking “questions”:
Source: Twitter/@Nigel_Farage
Here’s what he had to say:
His comments further stoked the flames of anti-immigrant sentiment as Farage’s “questions” relating to whether the police were hiding the true nature of the tragic attack meant that it must have been a person belonging to an ethnic minority and therefore someone who shouldn’t even be here.
Other far-right voices chimed in with Laurence Fox, Andrew Tate and Tommy Robinson among many others blaming the UK’s failed immigration policies for the attacks.
The mere “question” that the police might be hiding something lead to a number of far-right conspiracy theorists descending on Southport ostensibly to find and report the “truth” to their followers.
It didn’t help when celebrities such as Dragon’s Den star Duncan Bannatyne started querying the police narrative:
Source: Twitter/@DuncanBannatyne
The main instigator in all of this seems to have been a self-styled social media “reporter” going by the handle “brucesrandomness”.
According to The Guardian, a TikTok he posted giving the false name garnered over 800,000 views[4]The Guardian: Misinformation about Southport attack suspect spreads on social media. Interestingly, “brucesrandomness” has deleted the main TikTok account, at least 2 backup accounts and scrubbed their YouTube channel leaving only a Twitter video apology for sharing “headlines from the internet in anger”[5]Twitter: @Brucesrandomness. I’ve added it here in case it gets deleted too:
The level of whataboutism[6]The Conversation: Whataboutism: what it is and why it’s such a popular tactic in arguments in this so-called “apology” is astounding, but this is meant to be a balanced article so I will leave it at that.
Following these TikToks and tweets more and more people began to descend on Southport.
Slowly the numbers built up and because of the Muslim sounding name, Farage’s terrorist connection “question” and anti-immigrant rhetoric, the following evening a mosque near to where the murders took place was surrounded by a large group which many news outlets identified as English Defence League (EDL) members, police arrived and a riot ensued.
A police van was set on fire, bricks were thrown through windows and at police, bouncing off their riot shields, sometimes with unexpected consequences.
As JoJo Siwa sings: Karma’ a bitch[7]YouTube: JoJo Siwa – Karma (Official Video)
39 Police were injured in the clashes with 12 being treated at the scene and 27 requiring hospital treatment[8]Huffpost: How Did A Horrific Attack On Young Children Lead To A Violent Protest In Southport? Here’s What You Need To Know, 3 police dogs were also injured with 2 sustaining cuts to their legs and 1 receiving burns[9]CNN: Violent scenes as far-right protesters ‘hijack’ vigil for 3 girls killed in Southport knife attack.
The Spread Of The “Protests”
On Wednesday the 31st July 2024, more far right supporters headed to London and again clashed with police with over 100 people being arrested[10]Wikipedia: 2024 United Kingdom Riots. Further gatherings took place in Manchester, Hartlepool and Aldershot.
In the wake of the riots on Wednesday various hashtags started trending on Twitter such as “#EnoughIsEnough”, “#FarRightThugsUnite” and more.
Within these hashtags, accounts started sharing details of further “patriot gatherings” and by this point any of these “gatherings” no longer had anything to do with the tragedy in Southport, they were being used by the far right to assemble and intimidate whoever was their latest target – including police.
Here’s Katie Hopkins… again:
Source: Twitter/@KTHopkins
On Friday, 2nd August, a “patriot gathering” took place in Sunderland where a police station was burned down[11]The Telegraph: Southport stabbings: Sunderland police station set on fire amid riot and this set of clashes saw 2 police officers injured. The police also had to prevent an attack on another mosque[12]Financial Times: Rioting breaks out in Sunderland as UK police brace for weekend of unrest.
The rioters also looted a vape shop and burned down a Citizen’s Advice Bureau and, as of the time of writing, are still being described as “Protestors” by most of the mainstream media[13]London Economic: Protesters in Sunderland loot vape shops and burn down Citizens Advice.
By the 3rd of August counter-protests had been organised which saw police having to stand off between the two groups at various locations across the country, although I should note that the anti-far right protests seem (at the time of writing) to have been largely peaceful.
So with the background and escalation of these events in mind, let’s look at what the definitions of a protest and a riot are and where these events fall on that scale.
What Defines A Protest?
Protests have been a hot topic in the UK press over the past year or so, most notably because of Just Stop Oil and the pro-Palestinian marches that have been taking place.
Couple that to the, what some may call draconian, changes to the Public Order bill and protests have been big news[14]BBC News: What is the Police and Crime Bill and how will it change protests?.
But what is a protest? Is it a couple of old ladies waving a cardboard sign saying “not in my back yard”? Is it someone throwing orange paint over a work of art? Is it a million people marching through the streets of London asking the Government to stop the genocide in Gaza? Or is it somewhere in between all of these?
A protest is defined as:
an expression or declaration of objection, disapproval, or dissent, often in opposition to something a person is powerless to prevent or avoid[15]Dictionary.com
Under UK Law the right to protest is currently protected by the Human Rights Act – although as noted above the police now have greater powers to manage and disperse protests.
A protest is usually conducted over a specific cause such as civil rights, social justice or to protest government overreach or inaction.
In that vein, you could argue that what occurred in Southport fits the definition of a protest: people gathered together to rally against the government’s inaction over what they see as uncontrolled immigration (legal or otherwise).
Where the Southport incident deviates from a “standard” protest is that protests are generally organised, have people responsible for running them and this will including providing services like marshals, defining a route, providing water/first aid stations etc.
Protests aim to bring awareness to the issue at hand and make societal changes through non-violent means[16]Differencify: Riot Vs Protest: A Side-by-Side Comparison and try to engage all sectors of society to support their cause.
What Defines A Riot?
Riots, like protests, can also be bourn from political, social or societal issues.
A riot is defined as:
a noisy, violent public disorder caused by a group or crowd of persons, as by a crowd protesting against another group, a government policy, etc., in the streets[17]Dictionary.com: Riot
Britain has a long history of riots and people interacting in a violent manner towards the police, and the police being violent in return.
The miner’s strikes of 1984-1985[18]Wikipedia: 1984–1985 United Kingdom miners’ strike, the 1990s Poll Tax riots[19]Wikipedia: Poll tax riots and the 2011 riots that spanned the country[20]Wikipedia: 2011 England riots all spring to mind and while they all have a social cause behind them, unlike a protest they were unorganised and violent.
A riot never intentionally starts as one – it would be foolish to mention that on social media after all – but as we saw from Katie Hopkins “patriot gatherings” tweet above, these are loosely organised events which are often at arbitrary locations with no real stated goal in mind.
There’s no “route” or management as with a protest, groups of people gather, tensions run high and violence ensues.
With a protest, law enforcement is usually there to help guide the protesters along certain routes, ensure their safety from traffic and make sure that the protest doesn’t interfere with activities being carried out by the general public. In a riot situation on the other hand, the police are forced to actively intervene to stop the actions of the assembled group from attacking others, damaging property, looting and more. This often results in violence being directed towards law enforcement which further exacerbates tensions.
Riots usually cause extensive damage to property owned by the general public. A protest seeks to persuade the population to understand or rally to a cause whereas a riot will cause destruction to the very homes and businesses that those gathered are arguing they are “protecting” or speaking on behalf of.
So Is What’s Happening A Protest Or A Riot?
While you could argue that the initial events in Southport and the ensuing “patriot gatherings” may have begun as protests against illegal immigration, immigration in general and (because of the association of the false “Muslim sounding” name) the rise of Islam in the UK (which isn’t a thing and perhaps a topic for another article) what happened very shortly after a large group of people met up left the realms of protest and moved firmly into the land of rioting.
In no gathering has looting, throwing bricks through a mosque window or destroying a person’s front garden wall in order to have ammo to throw at police ever been considered a protest.
You know what it has been considered?
A riot.
While I try to be unbiased in articles on this site, what is currently being presented by the UK press really disappoints me and I felt I needed to call it out.
Why should a person like me feel bound to tell the truth and act with journalistic integrity when all of these other outlets are covering up what is really going on?
The mainstream media seem to be tiptoeing around the verbiage they’re using and there’s only one reason I can think of: the perpetrators are mainly white English men. You know, the people who buy their newspapers, subscribe to Sky for the footie and enjoy Match Of The Day.
The 2011 riots were caused because an unarmed black man was shot by police in Tottenham, London. The majority of people who went out to start protesting were black and when met with a large police presence trouble started and so it was immediately labelled a “riot” by the MSM.
In 1990 with the Poll Tax riots, it was mainly low income householders and students who, once again, were confronted with a large police presence and it was immediately called a “riot” by MSM because of their perceived lower-value socio-economic status.
The same happened with the miner’s strikes – poor people or those who do manual labour can’t protest, they can only violently riot if you believe the press[21]Channel 4: Miner’s Strike 1984: The Battle For Britain.
Words matter[22]Bloomberg UK: ‘Insurrection:’ Is That a Word We Really Want to Use?.
And the press knows this.
Calling something a “protest” that lead to multiple hospitalisations, property damage, theft and disruption does nothing to aid the narrative of what is behind these events. What it does do is shield the violent offenders from the public wrath over their actions.
Let’s start calling it as it is: It’s a riot. Plain and simple.
If you see a news outlet publishing disingenuous headlines, call them out on it.
You never know, they may listen and change it.
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Katy is the editor-in-chief of FlippingHeck.com a blog about Self-Improvement, Productivity and Small Business Tips. When she’s not working, she enjoys gaming, making music and Reviewing Things.
