Disinformation about riots 'terrifies communities and creates illusion protesters control streets'

7 August 2024, 23:47 | Updated: 8 August 2024, 09:33

As night closes in on Wednesday, it seems that the promised riots across the country have failed to materialise, according to Ella Whelan, journalist and organiser of the Battle of Ideas festival.

Unlike previous scenes of violence and destruction across the weekend, so-called far-right agitators appear to be tucked up on the sofa for the evening.

In fact, streets that were previously warned to shut up shop for fear of gangs of Tommy Robinson enthusiasts are currently filled with different crowds - some bearing anti-racist placards, some looking just as masked and geared up as the rioters.

In Walthamstow, north London, thousands of counter protesters took to the streets to confront a promised gang of far-right that never showed.

In Bristol, large groups in masks have been marching around looking for opponents yet to materialise. Many are hailing this a success story - the fash, presumably, have been scared off the streets.

This could be true - arrests have been made following the weekend’s events and the threat of jail sentences might be enough to deter violence, for now.

It’s also true that the British far right have long been small, unorganised and largely unpopular.

But perhaps there is a different explanation to tonight's anti-climax - that a lot of it was exaggerated.

Reports of hundreds of riots seemed unlikely, especially when leading commentators for the right were taking to Twitter to damage control about claims of mass protests.

While the atmosphere has been febrile and unpredictable, the riots don’t seem to contain much political longevity.

After a number of hours of police baiting and destruction, they seem to quite literally burn themselves out.

This over-hyping of a night of far-right activity might come to nothing, but it’s still a problem.

Echoing the Lockdown mentality of shutting down society to prevent a danger not yet realised, many were warned that public spaces were no-go zones.

Friends of mine in Walthamstow were sent texts by their doctors’ surgery to stay away from the area for fear of violence.

Mums in my nursery group chat in east London frantically shared a list of emergency numbers to call in case of far-right sightings.

Police in the West Midlands issued social-media videos directed at ‘elders’ to assure them that we ‘stand with you’.

As a result, many people spent the day looking over their shoulder in unnecessary fear and anxiety.

This is not to blame those who are feeling cautious.

Police tactics when it comes to rioting, from Harehills to Southport to Rochdale, seem to be to hang back and let the area burn, hoovering up arrests based on CCTV footage after the fact.

If your shop or home or Mosque looks like it might be in the firing line, battening down the hatches in case no one answers your emergency call is eminently sensible.

Police inadequacy has produced a level of fear which doesn’t reflect the reality of the danger people face - this is a huge failure.

But, equally, those of us commenting on social media and sharing panicky WhatsApp forwards need to be careful.

Much has been made of the threat of disinformation online - from Elon Musk’s retweets to false information about the Southport attacker. What no one seems willing to admit is that enlarging a far-right threat is also disinformation.

This evening, Hackney Council were forced to issue a statement to residents warning about ‘misinformation circulating regarding planned public disorder in Stoke Newington’.

This kind of fearmongering terrifies communities and creates the illusion that these protesters control the streets.

That’s not to say that there’s ‘nothing to see here’ - the threat of riots is serious, and things have turned very ugly.

We need to understand why groups of people have turned to racism and destruction.

But if we also want normal life to prevail, we must resist the urge to panic, and defend its continuation in the face of rioters and gossipy social-media users alike.