Tell MAMA condemns the disgraceful targeting of Southport mosque by the far-right last night by those seeking to exploit our collective grief about horrific stabbings at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club, that left three children dead and left two adults and five other children needing critical care.
Our research and investigations team worked tirelessly yesterday in helping to identify various far-right agitators online spreading misinformation on social media platforms – we have reported some extremist racist and harmful materials to the police – and will continue to do so.
We also received messages from Muslim communities, including visibly Muslim women, worried about the current climate. We must not lose our sense of mutuality and support for each other by those who seek to divide us, especially by those with large platforms online and more mainstream traction.
We must also work collectively in our politics, media and wider society to challenge and remove scapegoating and stigmatising narratives that collectively link refugees, migrants, Muslims and other minority communities to violence and crime.
Nor can we accept passivity from social media platforms on harmful misinformation. Change must come, and platforms must do more to tackle misinformation.
Tell MAMA’s research highlights the threat of the far-right both online and offline, and we urge the government and the public, to understand how the disgraceful scenes in Southport last night, which left 39 police officers injured, do not exist in a vacuum. After many trigger events, we often saw a rise in anti-Muslim cases reported to Tell MAMA.
We are also heartened by members of the public standing up for Muslim communities locally, with offers of support to help clean up and who reject the racialised misinformation online.
The focus should be on the families and those impacted, we like many others grieve for the loss of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar.
The police investigation is ongoing, and we remind the public to avoid speculation as Merseyside Police have also dismissed claims about the name of the suspect circulating on social media – who, due to their age, cannot be named for legal reasons.
Notes to editors
Please email ‘info@tellmamauk.org’ FAO of our Director Iman Atta OBE to discuss the story and our work more generally.