A review into the response of police to the riots sparked by the Southport knife attacks found that while officers “displayed immense bravery in the face of extreme violence”, they failed to recognise the significance of events leading up to the riots and were slow to mobilise after disorder broke out.
Chief Inspector of Constabulary Andy Cooke warned that another wave of “serious disorder” was likely in the next years with “far more tensions across communities and far more ways of sharing information”, unless policing steps up to “counter disinformation and misinformation”.
Here, we fact-check some of the core claims surrounding the policing of the riots.
Rioters set at least one vehicle alight and attacked police in Southport (Photo: Chris Furlong/Getty)The report found that police intelligence did not predict the “rising tide of violent disorder well enough”, meaning that opportunities to prepare for and clamp down on disorder were missed.
It said: “Our assessment of these incidents suggests that the risks of disorder were greater than the police believed them to be. They involved extreme nationalist sentiment, aggravated activism or serious disorder.
Some of the incidents noted include disorder near asylum seeker hotels in Merseyside and Rotherham in February 2023; violence in November as protesters clashed during Armistice Day in London; and unrest during Tommy Robinson demonstrations including 100,000 people attending a rally in London just two days before the riots.
A flood of misinformation about the Southport attack was spread on numerous social media platforms igniting riots across the UK (Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty)Fact check: Police operated ‘two-tier’ system during riot investigations
Far-right conspiracy theorists and figures such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have accused the police of “two-tier policing” in response to the riots, claiming the BLM demonstrations in 2020 and Pro-Palestinian protests this year were policed “more favourably”.
He told Times Radio that the Southport riots were “policed differently” to other protests as they were “violent disorder”.
“This wasn’t a protest where a few people were acting against the law. This was violent disorder. This was an attempt to injure police officers.”
Far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon known as Tommy Robinson is arrested by police during a demonstration in London on 26 November, 2023 (Photo: Alberto Pezzali/AP)The report found that police failed to tackle the misinformation and disinformation that ignited the riots.
“So the police failed adequately to denounce it or mitigate against it in real time to deter or curtail the disorder.”
Police officers disperse a counter-gathering ahead of an anti-immigration protest by far-right activists, outside the Waltham Forest Immigration Bureau offices in Walthamstow (Photo: Benjamin Cremel/AFP)Fact check: Farage posted bogus claim about authorities ‘hiding details’ about Southport killings
The day after the Southport stabbings Farage posted a video on X in which he questioned “whether the truth is being withheld from us”, as rumours about the identity of the attacker spread online.
His comments sparked widespread condemnation. Neil Basu, a former Scotland Yard officer in charge of counter-terrorism, said Farage was “undermining the police, creating conspiracy theories, and giving a false basis for the attacks on the police”.
Farage defended his comments saying, “I think it’s perfectly reasonable to ask what is happening to law and order in our country”.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( ‘Two-tier’ policing, misinformation and far-right riots, fact-checked )
Also on site :