'It's bewildering': Why is calling the riots across Britain Islamophobic up for debate?

By Jacob Paul with Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall

From attacks on mosques to racial slurs written across asylum seeker hotels, rioters appear to have targeted a specific type of immigrant. So why is calling the wave of violence Islamophobic up for debate?

In brief...

• Violent unrest after the Southport knife attack has been directed against immigrants, but there is a debate about whether they are Islamophobic.
• Evidence of Islamophobia includes racial slurs being chanted and written on buildings while mosques have been targeted in attacks.
• The News Agents say the riots are clearly Islamophobic as the culprits would not unleash the same attacks on white, European immigrants

It has been hard to avoid. From Liverpool to Leicester, violent unrest is breaking out across the UK in the wake of the Southport knife attack.

The mobs involved all appear to have something in common, and that is having a problem with immigration. That is not up for debate.

But there is a debate being had that The News Agents want to draw a line under, and that is, that the culprits are not simply anti-immigrant, or even just far right, but Islamophobic.

According to the All Party Parlimentary Group on British Muslims, Islamohobia is "rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness”.

What have the rioters been referred to as?

Prime Minister Keir Starmer came under fire after calling out the "far-right thuggery" of the mobs running riot across the UK.

Take Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice’s statement as an example.

He said: “We abhor the riots, abhor violence and abhor assaulting police officers.

“But underlying this is concern about mass migration and two-tier policing, and concern that the new Prime Minister smears anyone who wants to have a debate about this as ‘far-right’.”

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has used the term “Islamophobia”.

Others have been hesitant to use these labels.

Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Labour MP Zarah Sultana condemned the “racist, fascist, far right violence” breaking out across Britain.

But Sultana has raised questions as to why the hosts pushed her to explain why the rioting should be classed in this way.

“Why is it important to you, to use the specific word Islamophobic. It’s been called racist, it’s been called thuggery,” host Kate Garroway asked.

Is there clear evidence of Islamophobia?

We know that a fire was started at a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, while a second was also targeted in Tamworth.

These events have been “full of racist, far right, xenophobic rhetoric,” Lewis Goodall notes on an episode of The News Agents.

He points out how the rioters wrote racial slurs on the walls of Tamworth’s Holiday Inn Express.

It has also been reported that rioters have been shouting Islamophobic slurs at the scenes of unrest across many locations.

There have also been attacks on mosques across the country, with violence escalating to such an extent and becoming so widespread that the government has rolled out emergency protection measures for these places of worship.

Cooper said: “In light of the disgraceful threats and attacks that local mosques have also faced in many communities, the government is providing rapid additional support through the Protective Security for Mosques Scheme.”

It comes after rioters mistakenly believed the Southport knife attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker after disinformation spread online. In reality, the killer was born in Wales to Rwandan parents.

What do The News Agents say?

How Starmer is facing backlash for calling the rioters far-right is “bewildering” for Lewis Goodall.

In fact, not only should the violence be labelled far-right, but also Islamophobic. That’s because the protesters don’t have a problem with just any immigrant, he says.

Lewis explains: “It is full of Islamophobic, particularly anti-Asian rhetoric that sometimes has been referred to as anti-immigrant protests. Come on, it's not anti-immigrant.

“They've got a problem with - in the main - brown and black people and in particular, Muslims.”

Jon Sopel agrees, saying: “No one is protesting about too many blonde haired, blue eyed Norwegians coming to this country, or French people coming to this country - it is Islamophobic and there is something dangerous about it.”

It is not necessarily an issue to raise concerns or questions about the scale of immigration to the country, about people arriving in small boats, or whether integration is working the way it ought to, according to Lewis.

None of this is far right, he adds.

Rather, what is far right, according to Lewis, is the “disliking people on the basis of their ethnicity, and going to them and trying to burn down where they live”.

Listen to the discussion in full on The News Agents.

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