English Defence League must be declared terrorist group if Southport riot link proven

Following the Southport riots, Humza Yousaf has called for the English Defence League to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation. In a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the former First Minister wrote that it is “time we took on the English Defence League and the evil ideology that drives them”.

The violence began on Tuesday night after misinformation was spread online about the stabbing attack at a dance class the previous day, when three young girls were killed. Merseyside Police said “a large group of people, believed to be supporters of the English Defence League” (EDL) began to throw bricks and other missiles at a local mosque. Fifty-three police officers were injured.

If it is shown that the EDL were behind the violence, then the group clearly must be designated as a terrorist organisation. Peaceful protest is allowed in a democracy; terrifying innocent citizens simply because they are Muslim and putting people, including police officers, in hospital is obviously not.

The thugs on the streets may not be the only ones in trouble with the law. As the life sentence handed out to Islamist hate preacher Anjem Choudary on Tuesday showed, those responsible for radicalising and inciting others to violence can face severe and deserved punishment.

Putin is our enemy

Local people in Southport said the mob were not from the Merseyside town. One brave woman held up a sign saying “racism not welcome here” during the violence, and a businessman reported that “they came in in buses and cars and had a change of clothes”, which would suggest a degree of planning.

It appears the thugs were acting partly on misinformation from a Russian website that wrongly associated the stabbing attack with Muslims. But they may well have been willing dupes, with far-right extremists increasingly pushing pro-Russian narratives. These supposed ‘patriots’ need to realise Vladimir Putin is our enemy.

Last year, Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, warned about “a quarter of our counterterrorism work comes from the extreme right-wing terrorist individuals”. Those that spout racist hate like terrorists, espouse an “evil ideology” like terrorists, and attack innocent people like terrorists should be treated like terrorists.