Neil Basu, the former head of counter-terror policing in the United Kingdom, has compared the ongoing right-wing riots in the country with “modern day lynching.” Basu responded to footage shared widely online of thugs attempting to burn down a Holiday Inn Express hotel in Rotherham, England.
The footage showed rioters, many of whom describe themselves as right-wing activists, smashing windows and attempting to burn down the hotel. Reports revealed how the building had been used by the government to house illegal aliens who arrived in the country on small boats over the English Channel, prompting activists to take action. Speaking to the nation’s media this week, Basu said that anybody caught attempting to burn down buildings with people living inside should be facing life in prison and not mere five-year sentences for violent disorder.
Some of the footage of the chaos was recorded by individuals living inside of the hotel. The scenes show how police officers surrounded the hotel as thugs threw projectiles at the hotel. In other clips, rioters can be seen tracing their fingers across their necks, as if to intimidate or threaten those inside.
While right-wing commentators and politicians in the United Kingdom have roundly criticized the rioters, some have expressed concern that the newly formed Labour government is not tackling the root causes of the problem.
Jack Buckby, a counter-extremism expert from the United Kingdom told this outlet that the problem is much deeper than people seem to realize.
“What the government fails to recognize is that while these riots were initiated on a lie – namely, that a knifeman in Southport who killed three children as an Islamist and refugee – it remains true that much of the United Kingdom is unhappy with high levels of immigration and poor economic conditions in working-class towns in the north,” Buckby said.
Rotherham is one such poor town in England; and if you thought you recognized the name, it could be because of its disturbing history. This South Yorkshire town hit international headlines in the 2010s when it was revealed that thousands of young English girls had been abused by gangs of majority Muslim men between the late 1980s and 2013. An independent inquiry into the scandal, the Alexis Jay Inquiry, found that local authorities were aware of the problem and attempted to cover it up. An estimated 1,400 young children are believed to have been abused during that time. Many young girls targeted by the men were as young as 11, with some being abducted and trafficked to other parts of the country.
Former counter-terror chief Neil Basu certainly has a point about the rioters, but isn’t it time the government took a moment to ask itself why tensions have gotten so high in the first place?
