Geneva Abdul – The Guardian Sept 19, 2022
Police hold back Muslim protesters from marching in Leicester on Sunday. Click to enlarge
Disorder that broke out in Leicester over the weekend between Hindu and Muslim communities escalated as a result of social media disinformation and a distortion of facts, the city’s mayor has said.
Fifteen people were arrested on Monday, after weeks of disturbances between Hindu and Muslim people since an Asia Cup cricket match between India and Pakistan on 28 August.
“I’ve seen quite a selection of the social media stuff which is very, very, very distorting now and some of it just completely lying about what had been happening between different communities,” Peter Soulsby told BBC’s Radio 4 Today programme.
“There’s no obvious local cause for this at all,” Soulsby said, pointing to a distortion of facts on social media and a concerted effort to bring people from as far away as Birmingham to raise tensions in “an otherwise very peaceful city”.
Celebrations that took place following the cricket match in August later became disorderly, a police spokesperson said. “An incident was shared on social media stating that a Muslim was being attacked by Hindus. This was wrong – the victim was in fact Sikh and supported the same team as the people who assaulted him,” the spokesperson said.
For several weeks, the police have tried to counter disinformation as they find it, the spokesperson said, adding: “Certainly, we believe it has attributed to tensions in the community.”
The latest disturbance, described by locals as “unprecedented” in the most densely populated city in the east Midlands, broke out after unplanned protests on Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Disinformation appeared as members of the different communities alleged acts against places of worship and people of faith, the mayor said.
On Saturday, Leicestershire police reported social media activity, citing attacks on a local mosque. “Officers on the ground have confirmed this is not true,” the force tweeted.
As police tried quickly to correct the record, the mayor told the BBC: “Social media is a world that is perhaps a bit wild out there.”
Over the weekend, the chant “Jai Shri Ram” was heard in the streets. Translating from Hindi as “hail Lord Ram” or “victory to Lord Ram”, the Hindu greeting or chant has increasingly been appropriated by perpetrators of anti-Muslim violence in India. In circulated videos, a group of Hindu men were filmed marching past Green Lane Road, dotted with several Muslim-owned businesses and a Hindu temple nearby.
The polarisation within Hindu-Muslim communities has been exacerbated under India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, who has come under fire for his treatment of minorities, predominantly Muslims, and for undermining the country’s secular foundations.
Deceptive social media tactics used by the government have been described by experts as commonplace in India, where platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have come under scrutiny for allowing the proliferation of disinformation, harassment and violence.
“In Leicester, ‘normal’ is the very good relations between people of faith,” said the mayor. “I think we’re all very confident that Leicester’s resilient enough to be able to return to normal relations very soon.”
Gurharpal Singh, an emeritus professor of Sikh and Punjab studies at Soas University of London and visiting fellow at the University at Leicester, said Leicester was a model of multiculturalism but there was an underlying divide.
“These tensions which have risen are now I think part of broader social change which is occurring within the city,” said Singh, who has lived in the city periodically since 1964. He pointed to changes in the city’s minority ethnic demographics, and increased deprivation exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
“Also, one perhaps should not rule out the increasing influence of homeland politics, you know, the mobilisation of the diaspora by the BJP [Modi’s Bharatiya Janata party].”
While the facts on the ground remain unclear, Singh said Indian media outlets had reported in Leicester in highly communal terms, constructing events such as communal riots in India. “The underlying social-economic tensions are there, and they then get exacerbated by fringe groups that use communal discourse,” he said.
On Monday, India’s high commission condemned the violence in Leicester and the “vandalisation of premises and symbols of Hindu religion”. It said the matter had been taken up by UK authorities and it was seeking immediate action against those involved in the attacks.
One day a Hindu will write The Great Indian Novel.
It will be titled – “1,000 Years Together”
It will certainly disrupt the lives of ordinary people, but do the elites think they can control all this when it kicks off, as well as controlling all the other rioting and lawlessness they’ve let loose? There are so many other divisions they’re creating: left v right; straight v gay; straight v LGBT deviant; honest v crooked; old v young; working v unemployed; white v all others. And more divisions that have yet to surface.
Nobody can possibly predict the many directions of where this will all go. The security forces will struggle to contain it so the elite will not be able to control it. Causing starvation and the riots that follow does not mean they have control of the unrest.
Study history: So-called Greek classic and everyone will have a different view.
Gandhi: Bullshit
It is ALL BULLSHIT.
Mystic and Yogi
Monotheists and polytheists are both ignoring Taoism when they could have been getting some wisdom
Oh, what a timely “small window of opportunity” for total control and censorship of Internet!!!
So this is all because of disinformation on social media, therefore, we need greater control of the internet. The only way the State can keep us all ‘safe’ is by taking our freedoms away. Aren’t we lucky!
Divide Et Imperie.
The favorite British method of colonial rule comes home to roost.
Which Cult of scamming immigrant Australoid Subcontinentals do YOU favour to win the ‘Battle of Middle England’…
and (bonus questions)… was the Taj Mahal actually a Mosque… and was this Mosque ‘haram’ just like Mecca?…
and ….Did Sooty burn Sue alive when sweep died?..
Answers on a postcard.. to Jimmy Savile c/o Broadcasting House….
Social media to blame? What? He can’t spell “white people” then? They WILL eventually blame whites though, you just know it.
keb123
Brits were only victims of nice jewish boys and girls, need evidence? We were ruled over by D&R too, look at our divisions, England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales. Catholic & Protestant, N England S England, the class system, upper & middle class etc, brits were only victims, it is a jew game. The bRITISH Empire was entirely jewish, I bet you’re so disappointed eh?
a nation is a house .
THAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU INVITE
ENEMYGROUPS IN YOUR HOUSE !
same in Dummdeutschland with jews +
palestinians + moslems, turks+ kurds etc.
hot future annunciando !
@Putonbotski….
Don’t worry the elite have just litten the blue touch paper and retired….
Social Media blamed because they haven’t learnt how to spell “white people” yet.
keb123 The bRITISH were the biggest victims of divide & rule, England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales, Catholic & Protestant, the class system.
The bRITISH Empire wasn’t British it was 100% kosher, follow the money as a police officer might tell you.
This is why I detest the uk. I am british. You know, actually british, Is this britain? It’s like a bunch of mongolians taking over conneticut and starting a war with some existing god knows what else living there. Please. I hate all these god damn foreigners. Sorry, but I do. Please go back to your own country.
To the politicians: please kill yourselves. Really, please do. The other british people don’t want you or any of these brown or whatever other colour people in their country. You all make me sick.
To the “royals”: wtf do you think you’re doing? Who TF do you think you are? Please follow the lead of the politicians and kill yourselves. We’re all thoroughly sick of you and all that you do, just as we’re all thoroughly sick of your brown friends.
The BBC did not dare say Indians vs Pakistanis and mumbled something about South Asians and Moslems, but they saved the day by blaming police (Whitey, in this context) for not doing enough to stop the unfortunate oppressed melanised saints from hurting each other’s precious bodies