UK Home Secretary Suella Braverman visits troubled Leicester—Islamist lies nailed

The gravity of the tensions, and the violence, brought newly-appointed UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, to Leicester on Thursday to meet with the police and hold discussions with local residents. An unusually high number of local police personnel were injured in communal violence that began in late August and flared up over the past weekend.

In a series of tweets, Braverman said that she met with Leicester police officers and local community leaders to discuss action to protect local residents and restore safety and harmony in Leicester. She said: “We’ll work together on this, and I will do everything I can to support communities and our police. Those who bring disorder and thuggery to our streets will face the full force of the law & I thank all those brave police officers for keeping us safe”.

Braverman added that she will continue to monitor the situation and thanked the police for the expert handling.

The temporary chief constable of Leicestershire police, Rob Nixon, appreciated that Braverman travelled to Leicester to speak to the police force in person.

With intense police patrolling and arrests of 47 people, including those who had been ferried by Muslim groups from Luton and Birmingham, an uneasy calm has descended on the city.

The calm has given people time to analyse fake and misleading social media messages that prompted mobs to smash cars, attack homes with Hindu symbols and burn a temple flag.

International relations expert and political analyst Chris Blackburn said in a tweet that hoax information peddled on social media created tensions. He said: “…The Guardian looked into reports that the RSS ferried Hindus from London. It was a hoax.
The Muslim girl kidnapped- a hoax
A Mosque attacked- a hoax
It was all kicked off by #Pakistan getting beat by #India at the cricket”.

Blackburn challenged the Islamists in Leicester to prove their lies over “RSS buses, kidnaps, and Mosque attacks”.

Both—the local politicians and the police have said that fake social media posts inflamed tensions and led to violence in a city that has not seen tensions for decades.

The former Counter-extremism coordinator for the UK government, Charlotte Littlewood has been gathering evidence on what led to the violence. In a number of tweets over the past many days, she also busted a number of stories that built an ecosystem of hate and violence against the Hindu community.

Hitting the ground and appealing over social media, Littlewood had asked Leicester residents for evidence about the presence of members of the BJP—India’s ruling party, and also the RSS-a Hindu welfare organisation—which were supposed to have led marches of Hindu youth.

Her on-ground investigations found that the Muslim right wing had spread lies and rumours about the Hindus.

In a tweet posted on Thursday night, Littlewood said: “Todays search for #RSS terrorists in Leicester sent me on a mad goose chase in which I conclude they are not terrorists. And they are not in Leicester. Bravo Islamists that sent us all on a witch hunt whilst they stand behind us in balaclavas with knives. We have been duped”.

Meanwhile, Hindus were bracing themselves for attacks in other cities. Hindu scholar and yogacharya Satish Kumar Sharma tweeted that gangs were seen in Coventry on Thursday, where the police had increased its presence anticipating trouble. He appealed to the Hindu community to remain safe and not react to provocations.

Late in the evening, a handful of people stood with placards outside the Indian High Commission in London.

The violence in a hitherto peaceful city has put the glare on assimilation, multiculturalism as well as boat landings. With tens of thousands of migrants making their way into Europe and staying put on French beaches, the British are debating about the fallout of more migrants coming into the UK.

Also Read: Are Hindu families being threatened out of Leicester in a replay of the Kashmir pogrom?

Violence in UK’s Leicester—interfaith organisations found wanting in defusing tension