It was hard to find a message that didn't call for violence or overflow with racist insults, on Tuesday, August 6, in the Telegram channel "Southport Wake Up." It was from this discussion group, created by an anonymous internet user just after the murder of three children by a 17-year-old on July 29, that the first calls to organize a far-right demonstration in the town turned riotous. Since then, this same channel has served as the starting point for further violence, seen every day in several of the country's major cities.
On almost every occasion, the demonstrations seem to be organized spontaneously, without calls from political figures or parties. Messages published in recent days, reporting suspicious gatherings of young people from immigrant backgrounds or, conversely, far-right activists, seem to have played a major role in the violence - even though the overwhelming majority of these messages are false.
One example among many: Early on Tuesday afternoon, the X account ActivePatriotUK (138,000 subscribers) claimed that Muslims were planning to launch a riot in Scunthorpe (population 72,000) and advised, "If you are white, please stay out of the area." It got almost 1,000 likes and 350 shares in 30 minutes. The police published, a message on Facebook explaining that "we haven’t received any information to substantiate the reports." Among the 135 comments, other rumors: The city museum was said to be on fire (it wasn't); a riot was claimed to be planned for Wednesday evening in Hull.
Even so, there are reasons to fear violence will erupt on Wednesday evening. On Telegram, and more discreetly on other platforms, a "hit list" has been widely circulated on social media. "WEDNESDAY NIGHT LADS. THEY WON'T STOP COMING UNTIL YOU TELL THEM. NO MORE IMMIGRATION. 8 PM. MASK UP," begins a text, followed by a list of some 38 migrant shelters and public immigration services. Who drew it up? It's hard to say: The message was unsigned and copied and pasted from channel to channel. But the threat is being taken seriously by the various local police forces.
Even false rumors lead to real violence. On Sunday, some 400 anti-immigration protesters gathered in Weymouth, in southern England, after a rumor was spread online claiming that asylum seekers were to be housed in hotels in the seaside town. This was untrue, but two police officers were injured in clashes. In Birmingham, the following day, a group of young Muslims, some carrying Palestinian flags, threatened a journalist and defaced a pub in which, according to hearsay, a far-right rioter was staying. Fake news emerged again in the Telegram channel "Southport Wake Up": A member had earlier claimed to be ready to "go down [to Birmingham] with 50 guys". The "50 guys" never turned up, but a group of youngsters who had come to have a go at them did. "Southport Wake up" has since been shut down, but channels with the same name continue to be opened and closed. Contacted by Le Monde, Telegram said it was closely watching the situation and deleting calls to violence through manual monitoring and artificial intelligence tools.
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