When Jesse Clarke heard that three little girls had been killed in a knife attack in Southport on Monday, July 29, his blood ran cold. "I have a niece the same age," said the 29-year-old boxer, contacted by phone, who lives in Hemel Hempstead, north of London. "I was sad but mostly angry." Shortly afterward, he saw a video on X posted by a blogger who had filmed the area around the crime scene and claimed that the perpetrator was a Syrian refugee. "The majority of terrorist attacks in this country are committed by Muslims," he said, getting annoyed. "We welcome thousands of refugees without knowing anything about them. Most of them don't respect our values, nor our British culture." His anger led him to take to the streets alongside other members of the far right, and he is ready to do so again, ahead of another weekend of protest.
On Thursday, August 1, the courts revealed that the killer was a 17-year-old teenager born in Cardiff, Wales, to a family originally from Rwanda, named Axel Rudakubana. On Monday, he stabbed 13 people at a dance and yoga club, killing three girls aged 6 to 9. Eight other children were injured, as well as two adults. He has been charged with murder and will appear in court in October.
The damage had already been done. Rumors about his identity began circulating online as early as Monday. An account called Europe Invasion posted on X that the suspect was "a Muslim immigrant." The post got 6.8 million views. The Channel3 Now site, dedicated to sensationalist news, published an article claiming that the perpetrator of the attack was an asylum seeker who arrived on British shores in a makeshift boat in 2023.
The police immediately denied the information. But it had already been picked up by online sites and accounts on X and TikTok affiliated to the populist right. On Tuesday, July 30, calls for protests began to circulate, leading to an evening rally in Southport during which vehicles were set on fire, around 50 police officers were injured and a mosque was attacked with bricks.
On Wednesday, the call was extended to other cities. Without hesitation, Clarke got on a train and joined a demonstration organized by Danny Tommo, a Christian activist with over 30,000 followers on X, outside Downing Street. At first, the rally was peaceful but tension quickly mounted. "We want our country back!" protesters shouted, carrying flags emblazoned with the red cross of Saint George. Several masked men in hoodies started throwing beer bottles and other projectiles at the police.
You have 61.43% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.