Protests and riots have erupted across cities in the UK following the recent Southport mass stabbings that left three children dead and 10 injured. Massive Attack, Nova Twins, and KNEECAP have released statements condemning the far-right violence. Massive Attack posted a statement from the Runnymede Trust, a race equality think tank, which highlighted the government’s failure to center Muslims and people of color. The trust called upon political leadership to address the conditions emboldening the far-right, which it attributes to the “state-sponsored Islamophobia and racism” present in the UK.
Nova Twins said they were “sickened by the surge of far-right violence in the UK,” adding that innocent Muslims and people of color were being attacked and beaten, making people afraid to leave their homes. They called for people to come together, to support one another and those most vulnerable.
KNEECAP responded to the recent anti-immigration demonstrations in Belfast by posting a quote from civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin and calling for fascists to be smashed. Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly released a statement calling for parliament to be recalled for “urgent talks on how to stop this situation from escalating and how to address those in its ranks who have fueled this.”
The riots were triggered by a false claim made by EDL founder Tommy Robinson that the Southport killer had been an asylum seeker that recently arrived in the UK by boat. However, the accused murderer has since been named as a 17-year-old Welsh boy named Axel Rudakubana. Far-right violence has since been sparked in numerous cities, including attacks on police near a mosque in Sunderland and a group of rioters setting fire to a Holiday Inn housing migrants. Nadine Shah also spoke out against the violence, describing the scenes from Sunderland as “rancid” and calling for love and solidarity
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