Skip to main content
Regional secretary with the National Education Union
Teenagers joined summer’s far-right riots due to distrust of police and thrill-seeking, children’s commissioner says

TEENAGERS who joined last summer’s far-right riots were driven mostly by thrill-seeking and a mistrust of police, the children’s commissioner has said.

Dame Rachel de Souza said interviews with 14 — around one-fifth — of children charged in relation to the unrest discredited the “prevailing narrative” that they were driven by online misinformation.

False reports circulating on social media in the days after Axel Rudakubana stabbed three girls to death during a Southport dance class last July was believed to have fuelled rioting across England.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
A police car burns as officers are deployed on the streets o
Britain / 1 August 2024
1 August 2024
Over 100 arrests made after fascists seize on Southport stabbings to stir hatred
A police van set alight as trouble flares during a protest i
Britain / 31 July 2024
31 July 2024
Misinformation campaign fuels violence after vigil for three girls killed in stabbing