A woman living in Chester, England, was detained yesterday. The police statement read, “A 55-year-old woman was detained today (August 8) on suspicion of inciting racial hatred and publishing written material for disinformation purposes.” Cheshire Police Chief Inspector Alison Ross, whose assessments were included in the statement, stated that the far-right street events that have been taking place in the country since July 29 have been fueled by malicious and false information on the internet. Ross said, “This situation is a striking example of the danger of sharing information on social media without checking its accuracy. What happened is a warning that we are responsible for our actions, whether online or not.”
PROVOCATOR ACCEPTED THE ACCUSATIONS
The British media reported that the woman in custody was a businesswoman named Bernadette Spofforth. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Spofforth said, “I am ashamed to be accused of something like this. I did not make this up. I received this information from someone in Southport.”
Admitting that he shared false information about the identity of the attacker, but denying that his post ignited far-right events, Spofforth said, “My post has nothing to do with the violent events in the country. But I accept that a Russian news site may have used my post as a source.”
Daily Mail also shared the information that, as a result of its research, false statements regarding the identity of the attacker were first mentioned in Spofforth’s post.
“THIS POST DESTROYED ME”
Spofforth, who was reported to have thousands of followers on his now-deactivated X account, expressed his sadness in a statement to The Times, saying, “I made this post. It was a ridiculous thing to do on impulse and it devastated me.”
Spofforth explained that he wrote the same thing after seeing another X post.
MOSQUES, CARS AND POLICE VEHICLES WERE TARGETED
In his post about the Southport attacker, Spofforth wrote that the suspect’s name was “Ali Al-Shakati” and that he was a man who came to the UK illegally last year and was being monitored by the intelligence service.
Police did not identify the attacker because he was 17 years old, but right-wing extremists in the country have carried out attacks on mosques and foreigners after claims on social media that he was a Muslim refugee.
Many immigrants and police were attacked in the far-right violence that began in the country on July 30, and mosques, homes, workplaces, cars and police vehicles were damaged.
IT WAS REVEALED THAT THE ATTACKER WAS WELSIAN AND A CHRISTIAN
It was announced 3 days after the incident that the attacker who killed 3 children and injured 10 people, 8 of whom were children, in Southport was Axel Radukubana. It was also revealed that Radukubana, who was born in Cardiff, the capital of Wales, was Christian.
UGLY ATTACK ON MUSLIM DRIVER!
A man was caught on camera hurling Islamophobic abuse and spitting at a Muslim bus driver during the protests in London.
The group Documenting Muslim Oppression (DOAM) posted the video on X on Thursday, along with the note: “Racist thug abusing Muslim driver in London.”
“MUSLIM TERRORIST”
In the video, the man is seen repeatedly shouting “Muslim terrorist” while swearing at the bus driver.
The footage also showed the individual insisting that the driver get off the bus and smashing the bus window.
(AA)