In recent days, Britain has witnessed its worst rioting in over a decade. The nation was supposed to be reaping the benefits of political stability after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party won a significant majority in the July 4 general election. Instead, the new government is now grappling with violence and vandalism in towns and cities up and down the country. The rioters, some inspired by far-right groups, have attacked police officers and besieged mosques, and on the weekend one mob even stormed a hotel housing asylum seekers. By Sunday night, the tally of arrests had climbed to 420.
The riots are a reminder that festering resentment, even if held by a minority, can quickly metastasise and spill over into violence. This episode was triggered by the horrific murder of three young girls in the northwestern town of Southport on July 29. Falsehoods swirled on social media that the assailant was a Muslim asylum seeker, which tapped into latent anti-immigrant and anti-Islamic prejudices. The suspect was neither a migrant, nor Muslim. But the facts were irrelevant to the rioters, many of whom were seeking to enact their own mob justice or simply exploit the chaos in order to loot.
Home secretary Yvette Cooper described the perpetrators as a “thuggish minority”. Indeed, many of the riots were met by counter-protesters, and communities of all faiths and backgrounds have come together to help clean up their streets. The yobbish behaviour comes from a fringe. Britons hold one of the most positive attitudes towards immigration in Europe, according to recent surveys. The country is also more adept at integrating immigrants into society than other advanced nations, despite what the far-right may think.