4 August 2024, London.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, said the UK might face a civil war due to violent anti-immigration protests. The protests started after a knife attack in Southport, England, where three children died and others were injured. Axel Rudakubana, a 17-year-old born in Britain to Rwandan parents, carried out the attack. Rumors falsely claimed the attacker was a Syrian migrant.
The tragedy led to protests in cities like Liverpool, Nottingham, Leeds, Belfast, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool, and Hull. Protesters chanted anti-immigrant and anti-Islam slogans, set fires, and damaged cars and buildings. Some clashed with police, leading to arrests and injuries.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper warned that those involved in violence would face strong penalties. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said the government supports the police in keeping streets safe.
Channel3 Now wrongly named the suspect as Ali-Al-Shakati, an asylum-seeker on the MI6 watch list. They later deleted the claim. Channel3 Now is registered in Lithuania and has a single author, James Lawley, who owns a gardening company in Canada. The website is anonymized through a Massachusetts-based service.
Britain, like the EU, has struggled with an influx of migrants. In the 12 months leading up to June 2023, net migration was 685,000 people. The top non-EU nationalities were Indian (253,000), Nigerian (141,000), Chinese (89,000), Pakistani (55,000), and Ukrainian (35,000).