The left must unite against the atmosphere of Islamophobia created by the media and mainstream politics, which created the space for far-right violence, argues Michael Lavalette

On Tuesday (30 June) the quiet Merseyside seaside town of Southport was the site of a racist riot by a drunken far-right mob. Far-right activists descended on the town in the aftermath of the brutal killing of three children (Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar) and the significant injury to five more children and two adults, by a lone knife attacker on Monday morning.

In the aftermath of the attack, various untruths and rumours started to circulate online, and were broadcast and amplified by a range of right-wing grifters. Claims were made that the attacker was a refugee, that he had arrived on a small boat, and that he was Muslim.

None of this was true. And, in an unusual step, the police took to social media to clarify that the young person in custody had been born in Britain, to Rwandan parents (and therefore, almost certainly Christian) and had no links to the Muslim community.

It made little difference as a range of right-wing commentators upped the ante and called their supporters to take to the streets. On Tuesday, far-right activists travelled to Southport with a clear and identified target: Southport Mosque. From Tuesday afternoon, far-right activists started to appear in the town, draped in England flags and carrying booze.

In the early evening, hundreds of people from the town gathered in a peaceful vigil to mark the terrible events of the previous day and to grieve for those who had died. Yet at the same time, increasing numbers of masked young men came to the town and made their way towards the mosque. Over the next hours, the town would be the site of horrendous levels of violence aimed at the small Muslim community.

By the time the fascists had been dispersed, the area surrounding the mosque was trashed. The mosque windows were smashed, fires had been set alight at several locations, residents’ walls had been broken down to provide ammunition to throw at emergency-service crews, journalists and the police. This is a very mixed area of Southport and residents, black, brown, white, Muslim, Christian and people of no faith were locked down in their homes as the fascist mob rampaged through the community.

The scenes of carnage have prompted a degree of soul searching amongst some broadcasters and right-wing talk-show hosts, but let’s be clear: this is on them. Over recent years, media outlets, politicians and the political establishment have ramped up anti-migrant, anti-refugee and Islamophobic claims and rhetoric. This has reached new levels since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The language of Priti Patel and Suella Braverman created the space for far-right politicians like Nigel Farage, Richard Tice and Tommy Robinson to exploit. And the Labour Party, to their eternal shame, has just followed suit promising to be ‘tough’ on migrants, spouting Islamophobic tropes and claiming that pro-Palestine marchers are a ‘hate-filled mob’.

Labour and Tory politicians have created the space for the far right and now we see the shape of the monster they have created. Last Saturday over 30,000 marched in London, called out by Robinson. Yesterday in Southport, the hard fascist core in that looser network showed what they are really about.

The dreadful events in Southport, combined with the large populist-right march in London on Saturday, should act as an urgent wake up call to all on the left. We need to recognise that the most virulent form of racism in Britain at present is Islamophobia. We need to build as broad a coalition as possible to counter the divisive hate mongers. 

And we need to build a movement that can speak to the common class concerns: the impact of austerity, poor work, bad housing, the destruction of our services etc – that can draw people together rather than be the site of the division and disunity on which the far-right thrives.