The U.K.’s far right has stirred violent, racist attacks in British cities

Transcript

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Racist mobs attacking mosques, immigrants, anyone of color - those are some of the shocking scenes we have seen in several British cities over the past week. The government there is struggling to put down riots that have been inflamed by misinformation online, including posts from Elon Musk. Well, NPR's Lauren Frayer is in one of the towns that has seen violence and joins us now. And Lauren, tell us where you are, what you're seeing.

LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: I'm in Tamworth, near Birmingham, England, and this is where far-right extremists attacked a Holiday Inn housing asylum-seekers. They threw bricks. They smashed windows, sprayed graffiti on the walls of the hotel saying, get out of England. The migrants were evacuated. They weren't hurt. But I talked to hospitality staff who described a harrowing night barricaded behind the hotel front desk.

I also talked to neighbors who say, frankly, they resent having refugees in their community. And what was planned as a peaceful protest they say was hijacked by extremists. Here's a woman I spoke with named Evie Walton.

EVIE WALTON: It was supposed to be a peaceful protest, and it became a whole, like, riot, with police dogs, fireworks being thrown. It was supposed to be mums and kids, and it just turned into something absolutely crazy.

FRAYER: I talked to a lot of brown Britons here - people of color - too, who are absolutely terrified, and they say they fear for their children's safety.

KELLY: Well, and what's the government doing to try to protect these people?

FRAYER: So Britain's top prosecutor says he's considering charging some of these suspects with terrorism. Prime Minister Keir Starmer held another emergency meeting tonight. He's been speaking to the nation almost nightly. He says he's created a standing army of police to deal with this. Dozens of suspects have already had court appearances, and they face prison time and travel bans, too.

KELLY: Lauren, how did we get here? Was there a specific spark that set all this off?

FRAYER: Yeah, so last Monday - eight days ago - there was a horrific stabbing attack on children. Three young girls were killed. A 17-year-old was arrested and charged with murder. But because he's a minor, his identity wasn't made public, and there's been lots of anger and speculation. Far-right extremists spread messages online saying he was a recent immigrant, that he was undocumented, that he was a Muslim - none of which was true, but it set off these riots.

And here in Tamworth, it sort of tapped into anger that was already here. This is a pretty deprived area. The working class has been hollowed out here. And as I said, people have been resentful about having to welcome refugees into their community.

KELLY: And I mentioned Elon Musk. What role is he playing here?

FRAYER: He actually posted on X that, quote, "civil war is inevitable" in the U.K. He compared this country to the Soviet Union. He's sort of been taunting Prime Minister Starmer online, accusing him of having a two-tier policing system that treats white people unfairly. All of these are conspiracy theories. We have the head of X repeating them to his nearly 200 million followers. The U.K. government is asking him to please use this platform responsibly. Lives are at stake here.

KELLY: NPR's Lauren Frayer, reporting in Tamworth, England. Thank you, Lauren.

FRAYER: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.