FLAF statement:
Let Southport Mourn Its Children in Peace
By Patrick Davies (FLAF)
The horrific attack at a Taylor Swift themed dance event in Southport on Monday left a community devastated and young lives cut short. No child should ever be subjected to such horror and no parent should ever have to grieve a murdered child. Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice Dasilva Aguiar sadly lost their lives, others remain in a critical condition. A 17 year old male is in custody, his name witheld due to his age and his motivations currently unknown.
Amongst the injured are Jonathan Hayes who was stabbed when he bravely tried to intervene and Leanne Lucas, the dance teacher who was taking the class. Our thoughts are with all those directly affected and the people of Southport.
The local community, as well as Taylor Swift fans, have come together to help with acts of solidarity, love and support. A Just Giving page set up to raise funds for Alder Hey Children's Charity, where some of the children have been treated, has raised over £280,000.
https://justgiving.com/page/swifties-for-southport
In stark contrast to these efforts there has also been attempts by some to shamelessly exploit the grief to sow division, hatred and further violence.
On Monday, a suspect Twitter account calling itself Channel3 Now shared a since deleted post incorrectly naming the suspect and saying he was known to MI6. Similar posts appeared on the YouTube pages of professional bigots who tried to cash in on the horror and insinuated that the attacker was a recently arrived asylum seeker and Muslim.
The followers of these channels lapped up the unsubstantiated rumours. Comment sections under the posts were riddled with calls to burn mosques and deport Muslims, with barely a word for the victims.
By the time the police had confirmed that the attacker was in fact born in Cardiff and of a different name to the one circulated, the disinformation had been spread across the net. This was jumped on by Football Lads United (FLU), fronted by the hapless Steve Dolin, and other far right groups who repeated the same unsubstantiated claims about the attacker and called for supporters to "mob up" in Southport.
On Tuesday afternoon assorted trouble makers seeking to exploit the situation started arriving in Southport. By 8pm a local mosque was surrounded and pelted with bricks while others looked on giggling, chanting about Islam and drinking cans. Shortly afterwards a police van was torched and officers were pelted with bricks pulled from the walls and gardens of locals. By the end of the rioting the streets of Southport were strewn with debris, locals cars and gardens damaged, shops looted and 39 police injured.
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https://x.com/thatbloodyMikey/status/1818365196995600477)
There are key players who have purposefully used the horror in Southport to promote their own agenda. They've actively sought to sow division with no thought for the victims or the local community. Anyone seeking to use the deaths of children to promote their own bigoted agenda is a wrong un of the highest order. While the likes of the FLU, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and other professional shit stirrers have lit the fire, the fuel has been provided by less peripheral figures.
We cannot ignore the reckless behaviour of the political and media establishment. In an attempt to make excuses for their own failings we've had successive governments demonising migrants and weaponising a wilfully mismanaged immigration system. We've had politicians stoke the fires of culture wars as if they'll keep us warm when we can't afford to heat our homes. From the Daily Mail and GB News to the former home secretary we've been told that those seeking asylum in the country are "invaders". We've been told by millionaires that the reason we're worse off now than we were 20 years ago is because of other poor people from different countries. The kind of language that was once only found on online Nazi forums like Stormfront has been brought into the mainstream.
Throw into this febrile environment 14 years of austerity, a justified mistrust of the law and a concerted campaign of online propaganda and you have the perfect conditions for disorder.
There are serious questions to be asked about the horrific events in Southport on Monday. What is it that possesses a boy to murder children? What were the motivations behind this outrage? Could it have been prevented and how do we minimise the chances of it ever happening again?
Sadly this isn't the first time a lone male has murdered children in this country. Earlier this year a 36 year old man went on the rampage with a sword in Hainault. While shouting about God he killed 14 year old Daniel Anjorin. Those a little older will remember the Dunblane massacre in 1996 when Thomas Hamilton murdered 16 pupils at Dunblane Primary School. The targetting of children is sadly, grimly familiar.
The Southport community and all those affected should be given the space to come to terms with what's happened and grieve their loved ones in peace. Instead the far right have decided to hijack this grief to further their own agenda. This is unforgiveable. To the unwitting viewers of far right channels who rightfully view MSM with a suspicious eye but don't submit online content to the same scrutiny, give your heads a wobble, you're being played. To the Stephen Yaxley-Lennons and fascist talking heads who monetise trauma, we see you, we all see you, and we know exactly what your game is.
not all clouds...
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
