The first risk test of the Starmer era – L’Express

by time news

2024-08-06 06:12:43

Keir Starmer’s government did not see this crisis coming. After a week of riots, spreading their violence a little further every day in the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister of Labor had to call a crisis team on Monday August 5 to assess the situation. “It’s better late than never,” was the conservative protest. It must be said that the summer torpor and parliamentary recess have reduced the response of the authorities …

Furthermore, Keir Starmer and his Home Secretary Yvette Copper no doubt hope that clashes between far-right activists and Yorkshire Police will eventually subside. And the truth, now known around the terrible news that served as a trigger for the violence, will calm people’s hearts. A wasted effort. Demonstrations, the first of which was in Southport near Liverpool, turned into riots, which increased in intensity and affected new areas every day.

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It all started on the 29th of July in Southport, when a 17-year-old boy stabbed three little girls to death and injured ten others. As police refused to reveal the identity of the suspect, rumors quickly began to circulate about his background and whereabouts. Far-right activists are spreading false information on Telegram that the killer is a registered asylum owner and a Muslim. The rumor reached the X social network and was announced by billionaire influencer Andrew Tate as well as a former military leader English Defense League, Tommy Robinson has 10.8 million subscribers. Then it was TikTok’s turn to increase the wave of misinformation. For Tim Squirrell, director of the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, an expert in far-right and online information skills, it is a classic snowball, “a three-step elevator: Telegram, Twitter and TikTok”.

“Anger is a permanent state of sleep”

The result is immediate. The day after the tragedy, hundreds of far-right activists gathered in Southport and attacked a mosque and local police, apparently. For their part, the police will take three days to reveal the identity of the suspect: too long for the facts to put an end to the lie. In fact, the 17-year-old killer is British, with Rwandan parents living legally in the United Kingdom. This didn’t change much for the rioters, who ultimately only needed a pretext to vent their anger. Tim Squirrell says: “Anger is a perpetual simmering state.

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The real xenophobes are joined by the invaders, the terrorists but also the poor population, especially in the north of England, who feel diminished and neglected, in comparison with the ethnic minorities and immigrants who, according to them, is best maintained and is subject to specification. help The white proletariat, feeling culturally and socially threatened, is sensitive to the arguments of the extreme right. For him, these disturbances became in a few days a way to cry out his frustration, like Brexit eight years ago.

This time, Keir Starmer called it “right-wing violence” and has sent in extra police to help deal with the situation. Law enforcement in the south-west regions of England, Devon and Cornwall, are mobilized and expect violent demonstrations and protests from the far left but also from the local defense forces Muslim. We were already close to disaster on Sunday August 3, when a group of eight terrorists set fire to a refugee reception center in Rotherham by blocking emergency exits with 130 people inside. Emergency services are able to intervene in time.

The opposition, and in particular far-right leader Nigel Farage – who condemned the violence but called for a national debate on immigration – is urging Keir Starmer to recall MPs currently on recess for the parliamentary session. emergency council. For the moment, Keir Starmer refused to do so. However, Northern Ireland, after looting and scenes of anti-immigrant violence in Belfast, has just, for its part, remembered its conference in tragedy.

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Keir Starmer is currently reading about the violent response, the many arrests (number 450 last night) and the severity of the justice in the immediate reaction to put an end to the riots. An arrest warrant has even been issued for far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who incited violence against X from his holiday home in Spain. Home Affairs Minister Yvette Cooper said that any act of online disclosure would be vigorously pursued and enforced. Research is also underway into the role that certain countries can play in information on social networks.

Work faces a critical first test. They have a need to demonstrate their effectiveness quickly if they don’t want to be dragged down a dangerously slippery slope.

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