Two-thirds of Brits believe the country’s immigration policy is responsible for the recent wave of right-wing riots, according to a poll published on Sunday. The riots triggered a nationwide crackdown on disorder and online dissent.
Dozens of British towns and cities were rocked by right-wing protests and riots earlier this month after a British teenager of Rwandan descent stabbed three children to death and injured ten others in the town of Southport, near Liverpool. Initially sparked by a false rumor that the knifeman was a Muslim immigrant, the demonstrations spiraled into a wider backlash against Islam and mass immigration, culminating in an arson attack on a hotel housing asylum seekers in the town of Rotherham.
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According to a survey of 2,237 people carried out by polling firm Savanta and published by The Telegraph, 82% of Britons believe that the rioters themselves were responsible for the unrest, followed by 75% who pin the blame on far-right groups and influencers.
However, 64% believe that Britain’s immigration policy is ultimately to blame, while 59% say the Southport stabbings triggered the crisis.
British authorities responded to the riots in draconian fashion, with more than 1,000 people arrested, 480 charged, and 99 sentenced for their role in the disorder, according to figures published by the BBC on Friday. Around 30 people have been charged for online offenses, with a 34-year-old man sentenced to three months in jail for sharing what the BBC called a “derogatory meme about migrants,” and a 55-year-old woman arrested for sharing “inaccurate” information about the identity of the Southport killer.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is reportedly considering toughening up hate speech legislation, while London’s Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, warned last week that foreign “keyboard warriors,” including X owner Elon Musk, could be investigated and charged for allegedly encouraging the riots.
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Participants in the Savanta poll were split on this heavy-handed response, with 49% saying the government handled the situation well, and 43% saying that it was handled badly. Meanwhile, 44% blamed the riots on Starmer. In a public address at the height of the unrest, Starmer refused to mention the stabbings, instead accusing all those rioting of being motivated by “far-right hatred.”
Immigration to the UK soared during the premiership of Tony Blair. An adviser to the former prime minister, Andrew Neather, admitted in 2009 that Blair wanted to “open up the UK to mass migration” and “rub the Right’s nose in diversity.” With legal and illegal immigration combined, some 1.2 million people moved to the UK last year, 85% of them from outside the EU.