Revealed: far-right network of freelance yobs behind riots sweeping Britain
British unrest in Merseyside, London and beyond has been fuelled by provocative comments from white nationalist leaders.
The riots sweeping Britain were ignited by freelance extremists using social media to stir up anger. The organisers are part of an underground movement built up since lockdown whose targets include migrant hotels, drag queen story hours and 15-minute cities designed to reduce the use of cars.
The choice of a mosque as the focus for the Southport riot was made after demonstrators from Liverpool were unable to find asylum seekers’ accommodation, their preferred target.
A prominent member of Patriotic Alternative, a group that Michael Gove accused in the Commons in March of promoting neo-Nazi ideology, was among those spotted in Southport. The organisation, which has long feared proscription, is now likely to come under further scrutiny.
Blame for the riots lies with what experts call the “network” or “post- organisational” far-right. Unlike movements such as the National Front, British National Party and English Defence League (EDL), these are individuals who respond provocatively on social media to events in the news. Their messages, which may stop short of breaking speech laws, appeal to disgruntled followers who take the law into their own hands. Tommy Robinson, the former leader of the EDL whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, is a key figure.
During the Southport riots on Tuesday he posted images of a demonstrator throwing a missile at a police van.
“The British are angry, betrayed by their government, our children’s safety has been taken from us,” Robinson told his 804,000 followers. “The media lie to us & people are sick to f--king death of 2 tier policing. Basically if you riot they listen to you, that’s the message [they] sent out.”
The British are angry , betrayed by their government, our children’s safety has been taken from us. The media lie to us & people are sick to fucking death of 2 tier policing . Basically if you riot they listen to you, that’s the message the sent out . This is Southport right now… pic.twitter.com/5OSvNv6CSq
— Tommy Robinson 🇬🇧 (@TRobinsonNewEra) July 30, 2024
The build-up to the riot began with an online poster advertising a “Keep Our Kids Safe” rally in Southport for 8pm on Wednesday, which it billed as: “Peaceful protest. Everybody welcome. Let’s stand up for our children.”
The event was publicised by Joe Marsh, also known as Joe Butler, an organiser for Patriotic Alternative, who used a more provocative image on his Telegram account, showing a bloody handprint and inviting followers to a “protest demo” titled “Enough is Enough”.
A chatroom called “fedspottaliverpool”, which brings together people who like to keep abreast of the police’s movements, discussed how to proceed. “What’s the point in going to Liverpool town boys come on it happened in Southport there’s gotta be a hotel or something where they’re all staying,” one member said. They agreed to meet at the town hall, “find out later where they’re all staying then go there”.
Rikki Doolan, a hardline pastor who has debated with Laura Towler, the deputy leader of Patriotic Alternative, on the arcane subject of “civic nationalism” (which accepts non-whites as British) versus “ethnic nationalism” (old-school racialism), went to Southport. He was berated by other demonstrators as an “anti-white scumbag” for his position in the debate with Towler.
David Miles, known as Jack the Nipper, travelled from the West Midlands. The Patriotic Alternative activist wore a T-shirt with the slogan “Free Sam Melia”, a reference to Towler’s husband, who is in jail for inciting racial hatred.
Matthew Hankinson, who was jailed for membership of the proscribed organisation National Action, was posting on Twitter/X from Southport, describing it as a “peaceful protest at the anger of the murder of White Children by a foreign import”.
The slogan “Enough is Enough” was also adopted for the London protests, which descended into a riot on Wednesday. Robinson’s right-hand man, Danny Tommo, whose real name is Daniel Thomas, posted a speech saying: “Meet tomorrow outside Downing Street to show our anger at the government to make them aware that we hold them accountable.” Robinson retweeted it.
Allan Jones of Red Flare, a research group that monitors the far right, said: “Stephen Yaxley-Lennon’s lieutenant Daniel Thomas issued an incendiary video which called for supporters to ‘get prepared’ and ‘be ready’ as ‘it has to go off in different cities’. What we have now is a series of overlapping networks where messages like Thomas’s can spread virally. The protest in London, which saw 100 arrests, was called by Daniel Thomas.”
The hard-right grapevine has been fuming since the stabbing of a soldier near the Brompton barracks in Kent. Extremists were angered that the case failed to rally the country in the same way as the killing of Fusilier Lee Rigby in Woolwich, southeast London in 2013.
In Manchester on Wednesday, protesters responded to online calls to demonstrate against a Holiday Inn in Newton Heath “housing illegal immigrants at the taxpayer’s expense”.
In Hartlepool, anti-mosque protesters threw bottles at the police and assaulted a passing Asian man. A boy aged 11 has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a police vehicle was set alight. The town is a stronghold for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, which came second there in the general election. Farage issued a video this week insinuating that the police were hiding the truth about the Southport and Kent attacks.
A 200-strong hotel protest in Aldershot descended into racial intimidation and objects were thrown at the police.
The EDL has not been involved in protests this week. The organisation has not been active since 2018.
Mark Collett, the Hitler admirer who leads Patriotic Alternative, said in a livestream with Marsh on Wednesday evening as news of the Downing Street clashes came in: “White British people are waking up. They are beginning to gather together. It does seem finally the British lion is slowly starting to wake up. Maybe the roar has even begun.”
Key hard-right leaders have so far stayed away. They will be aware of Sir Keir Starmer’s response as director of public prosecutions to the 2011 urban riots, when 3000 people were brought to round-the-clock courts in five days and the toughest available sentences were imposed.
Robinson and Collett apparently stayed safely behind their keyboards.
The Times
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