Scientists Drill Super Deep Into Weird Underwater Structures

Frank Landymore

FUTURISM
Sat, 10 August 2024 



Digging Deep

A team of researchers has recovered the deepest sample ever taken of the Earth's mantle from a section of seafloor in the Atlantic Ocean.

At more than three-quarters of a mile in continuous length, the cylindrical sample is also the largest of its kind. The drilling was carried out last year, but the findings have now been published as a study in the journal Science.

Researchers hope that the bevy of rare rocks within will reveal secrets about how the mantle facilitated underwater chemical interactions that may have given rise to life billions of years ago.

"We did it," study coauthor Frieder Klein, a member of the drilling expedition at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, told The New York Times. "We now have a treasure trove of rocks that will let us systematically study the processes that people believe are relevant to the emergence of life on the planet."
City of Secrets

The sample was extracted from an underwater hot spring called "Lost City," a field of spire-like hydrothermal vents that spew hydrogen and organic compounds like methane into water, making it an ideal site for the emergence of life.

Its location is key: the "City" sits alongside an underwater mountain range known as the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which straddles the boundary between tectonic plates that are spreading apart. This process spews up molten magma that eventually cools to form mountains.

Scientists are interested in how mantle rocks could have created the chemical interactions that led to life, but recovering samples has proved challenging. They struck pay dirt this time, though, by drilling into a "tectonic window" in the seafloor where the mantle is much more exposed.

"When we recovered the rocks last year, it was a major achievement in the history of the Earth sciences," study lead author Johan Lissenberg from Cardiff University, said in a statement about the work. "But, more than that, its value is in what the cores of mantle rocks could tell us about the makeup and evolution of our planet."
Wearing the Mantle

Analyses of the rocks are ongoing, but so far they're already proving to be exactly the kind of time capsules of ancient geology that the researchers needed.

"The rocks that were present on early Earth bear a closer resemblance to those we retrieved during this expedition than the more common rocks that make up our continents today," said coauthor Susan Q Lang, an associate scientist in Geology and Geophysics at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, in the statement.

"Analyzing them gives us a critical view into the chemical and physical environments that would have been present early in Earth's history," she added, "and that could have provided a consistent source of fuel and favorable conditions over geologically long timeframes to have hosted the earliest forms of life."

Rise in animal abuse in England and Wales fuelled by social media, finds RSPCA

David Batty
Sun, 11 August 2024 

Narla, a three-year-old cat from Stoke-on-Trent, who in April was shot in the abdomen.

Photograph: RSPCA

Rising rates of animal abuse in England and Wales are being fuelled by social media, with perpetrators sharing videos and photos of dead and injured wildlife and pets, animal welfare charities have warned.

Experts also raised concerns about the proliferation of other less extreme forms of online animal cruelty, such as taunting pets for “funny” reactions on TikTok and Instagram.

The warnings come after the RSPCA published a report showing a 23% increase in attacks on animals using weapons, including air guns, slingshots, catapults or crossbows, from 300 in 2022 to 370 last year.


The charity’s wildlife officer, Geoff Edmond, said the RSPCA and the police in London and Essex noticed an increase in catapult attacks, particularly by young people, last year.

“We were seeing this increase in people targeting swans, geese, ducks and other water fowl, even squirrels, with catapults for fun,” he said. “This year we’ve had a fox attacked with a catapult down in Kent, and that was teenagers involved, and a hedgehog killed in Newbury.”

The trend was continuing, with evidence emerging of attacks being coordinated and shared online, said Edmond. “A lot of wildlife crime has changed because [perpetrators] can utilise social media to show what to do. People use social media to celebrate when they go out and set dogs on badgers. You see these videos on TikTok and other social media networks.”

The trend has continued despite social media firms facing the threat of substantial fines if they fail to remove animal cruelty content from their platforms under the Online Safety Act 2023.

Earlier this year, a Sky News investigation revealed that children – some of primary school age – are filming themselves using catapults to kill and torture animals in a UK-wide network on WhatsApp.

It found hundreds of members of catapult groups on WhatsApp, where photos and videos of animals killed or injured, often placed alongside the weapons used, are shared. In a video shared on one group, a deer with a severe head injury lies twitching on the ground, having been shot with a catapult by a child.

Edmond said he hoped Operation Lakeshot, a police-led partnership initiative the charity has helped to develop with the Essex and Metropolitan forces, would improve efforts to tackle such wildlife crimes. “One thing that struck me with WhatsApp images that Sky uncovered was you can tell [by the voice notes posted with videos and images in the chat] they’re having fun,” Edmond added.

Related: Philosopher Peter Singer: ‘There’s no reason to say humans have more worth or moral status than animals’

The number of young perpetrators was “a stark reminder of the dire consequences of failing to instil empathy towards animals in children,” said Elisa Allen, the vice-president of programmes at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta). Other charities have raised concerns about animal cruelty posted online for entertainment.

Madison Rogers, the head of advocacy, campaigns and government relations for Cats Protection, said some clips on Instagram and TikTok got millions of views and likes. “There’s one where people tap the cat until they get a reaction out of it. People comment how funny it is, but it’s in distress. Sometimes the cats turn around and lash out. It is worrying that people don’t recognise that as a form of cruelty and then try and replicate it with their own cats.”

The RSPCA’s latest annual Kindness Index, a national survey of attitudes towards animal welfare, found 43% of 16- to 17-year-olds had witnessed cruelty online in the past year, almost double the proportion of the adult population (22%), with Instagram, TikTok and X being the main platforms on which they saw it.

Gemma Hope, the RSPCA’s assistant director for policy, advocacy and evidence, said the survey had also highlighted two worrying trends: a growing lack of recognition of animal sentience and a decline in affection for animals among teenagers.

“Over the three years we’ve been doing the survey, the understanding about animal sentience has decreased,” she said. “If people don’t think animals can feel pain and have feelings, then they don’t necessarily think if they do something horrible, like shoot a crossbow at them, that it has an impact.”

UK

MoD balances training with saving rare moth

Grace Parnell
BBC News Online

MoD
Strensall Common near York is the only place in England where the dark-bordered beauty moth is found

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is trying to save a rare British moth from extinction while also using its site for military training.

The rare dark-bordered beauty moth exists at one last known site in England, the military training area at Strensall Common near York.

The MoD, which owns the Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) said it would be working with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and biologists from the University of York to try to protect the moth.

Retired Major Patrick Ennis, of the DIO and MoD Strensall Conservation Group, said the needs of the military and the moth must be balanced.


"While the primary use of the land is to enable our military to train, we are equally committed to supporting nature recovery by balancing the conservation of species and their habitats with military training requirements," he said.

'Enormous cultural importance'

The moth's numbers have dwindled by more than 90% since records began at Strensall Common in 1894, and only 50 to 100 now remain in the 57-hectares of open heathland.

The moth eats and lays its eggs on creeping willow which grows at the edge of the common's woodland, but the willow is dwindling because of wildfires and grazing by sheep and cattle, and therefore so is the moth.

To help save the moth, the MoD said it was providing funding and materials for the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) to fence creeping willow which had been advised by University of York biologists.

Volunteers with the charity Butterfly Conservation were also growing more creeping willow from seed.

Dr Peter Mayhew, from the University, said the moth was of "enormous cultural importance".

"[This] was the population where the moth was first discovered in the UK," he said.

"The moth has only survived thanks to the protection of the heathland provided by the military training area.

"Seeing the moth fly on a sunny morning is a never-to-be-forgotten experience which future generations deserve to enjoy."

The local Yorventure charity has also provided funding and conservationists are considering a trial scheme for captive breeding of the moth around York.

The only other place the dark-bordered beauty moth can be found is in Scotland's Cairngorms, where a project saw 160 of the moths released in a bid to increase their population and save them from extinction.

Startling genome discovery in butterfly project reveals impact of climate change in

Europe

Robin McKie
Sun, 11 August 2024 

THE GUARDIAN 

The Chalkhill Blue, one of the UK’s most beautiful butterflies, has declined in numbers.Photograph: Cephas Picture Library Ltd/Alamy


The chalkhill blue has some surprising claims to fame. For a start, it is one of the UK’s most beautiful butterflies, as can be seen as they flutter above the grasslands of southern England in summer.

Then there is their close and unusual relationship with ants. Caterpillars of Lysandra coridon – found across Europe – exude a type of honeydew that is milked by ants and provides them with energy. In return, they are given protection in cells below ground especially created for them by the ants. Chalkhill blues thrive as a result, though their numbers are now coming under threat.

It is an extraordinary catalogue of features, to which scientists have now made a striking addition thanks to a pioneering new project, known as Psyche, which aims to sequence the genomes of all 11,000 species of butterflies and moths in Europe and reveal in fine detail how climate change and habitat loss are affecting them.

As part of Psyche, scientists have found that, depending on location, the cells of the chalkhill blue have different numbers of chromosomes – the packets of DNA that contain their genetic blueprint. In southern Europe, they have a total of 87 chromosomes, adding them one at a time as they head north until their northern limit is reached, where chalkhill blues have 90 chromosomes.

“That very much goes against the dogma which states that a given species has a given number of chromosomes,” said evolutionary biologist Charlotte Wright of the Wellcome Sanger Institute near Cambridge.

“Why this is changing in the chalkhill blue is intriguing. It is clear that, as it has moved in Europe as glaciers retreated since the end of the last ice age, it has added a chromosome one by one while progressing northwards. It is a surprising observation.”

This point was backed by Mark Blaxter, who is also based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute. “If we look back a million years or so, we can tell when two species have split from a single originator. But how does that happen? More to the point, how would we spot what was going on at the time? That is what we are probably seeing here. We are seeing two species in the act of being created from one. We are shining a light on evolution in action.”

Project Psyche research is being carried out at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in collaboration with six other leading European research centres including Oulu University, Finland, and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology in Barcelona. It is named after the Greek goddess of the soul, who was said to have been given butterfly wings by Zeus and was usually depicted by the ancient Greeks wreathed in butterflies.

Before the development of modern genomics, the relationship between moths and butterflies generated considerable debate. “However, DNA technology has made it clear that butterflies are essentially a sub-group of moths, albeit ones that are generally more colourful,” said Wright.

A tenth of all named species on Earth are moths or butterflies and they are uniquely sensitive to changes in habitats, temperature and plants on which they thrive, added Blaxter. “That means the more we know about them the better informed we will be about the changes affecting the natural world in general. The alterations affecting the chalkhill blue are a perfect example of that knowledge.”

Its 87-to-90 complement of chromosomes may seem extreme compared with the 23 pairs possessed by humans. However, large numbers of these genetic packages are common among moths and butterflies, say scientists, with the record being held by another blue butterfly, the species Polyommatus atlanticus. It possesses a staggering set of 229 chromosomes.

Another intriguing example of lepidopteran life is provided by the xerces blue butterfly which was recently rendered extinct. By studying samples from museum collections, scientists have determined – by studying its genomes – that the species had become highly inbred and vulnerable.

“That research took place in the US but the aim of Psyche is to pinpoint other similarly vulnerable species in Europe in the same way and suggest which are the best targets for interventions to save them,” added Wright. “A genome is a perfect starting point for understanding how well an organism is doing in its environment.”

Butterflies and moths are crucial pollinators of plants and are also a key source of foods for birds, so their survival is important, added Wright. “This is blue-skies research that could have very practical outcomes.”

'No to racism': Protesters rally across UK

Far-right rioters targeted mosques and hotels linked to immigration, as well as police, vehicles and other sites.


People hold signs at a protest against racism outside Reform UK's headquarters in Westminster, in London, Britain, August 10, 2024. 

Thousands of anti-racism demonstrators rallied across the UK to protest recent rioting blamed on the far-right in the wake of the Southport knife attack that killed three children.

Crowds massed in London, Glasgow in Scotland, Belfast in Northern Ireland, Manchester and numerous other English towns and cities, as fears of violent confrontations with anti-immigration agitators failed to materialise.

It followed similar developments on Wednesday night, when anticipated far-right rallies up and down the country failed to materialise. Instead, people turned out for ga therings organised by the Stand Up To Racism advocacy group.

Up until that point, more than a dozen English towns and cities -- and Belfast too -- had been hit by anti-migrant unrest, following the deadly July 29 stabbings which were falsely linked on social media to a Muslim immigrant.

Recent nights have been largely peaceful in English towns and cities, prompting hope among the authorities that the nearly 800 arrests and numerous people already jailed had deterred furt her violence.

Despite the respite, UK media reported Saturday that Prime Minister Keir Starmer had cancelled plans to go on holiday next week to remained focused on the crisis.

'No to racism'

In Northern Ireland, which has seen sustained disorder since last weekend, police said they were investigating a suspected racially motivated hate crime overnight.

A petrol bomb was thrown at a mosque in Newtownards, east of Belfast, early Saturday, with racist graffiti sprayed on the building, said the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).

The petrol bomb thrown at the property had failed to ignite, it added.

"This is being treated as a racially motivated hate crime, and I want to send a strong message to those who carried this out, that this type of activity will not be tolerated," PSNI Chief Inspector Keith Hutchinson said.

Overnight, there were also reports of damage to property and vehicles in Belfast, as nightly unrest there rumbled on.


While the disturbances in Northern Ireland were sparked by events in England, they have also been fuelled by pro-UK loyalist paramilitaries with their own agenda, accor ding to the PSNI.

Around 5,000 anti-racism demonstrators rallied in Belfast on Saturday "largely without incident", police said.

Fiona Doran, of the United Against Racism group which co-organised the gathering, said it showed "that Belfast is a welcoming city... that says no to racism, to fascism, to islamophobia, to antisemitism, or misogyny".

'Delivering justice'

In London, thousands massed outside the office of Brexit architect Nigel Farage's Reform UK party before marching through the city centre, accompanied by a large police presence.

They blame Farage and other far-right figures for helping to fuel the riots through anti-immigrant rhetoric and conspiracy theories.

"It's really important for people of colour in this country, for immigrants in this country, to see us out here as white British people saying 'no, we don't stand for this'," attendee Phoebe Sewell, 32, from London, told AFP.

Fellow Londoner Jeremy Snelling, 64, said he had turned out because "I don't like the right-wing claiming the streets in my name".

He accused Reform party founder Farage of having "contributed" to the volatile environment.

"I think he is damaging and I think he's dangerous," Snelling added.

Birmingham residents: 'Fascists don't represent us'

Dozens of anti-far-right protestors stand guard in front of a local refugee and migrant centre in the heart of Birmingham.



AA

Hundreds of anti-racism protesters gather at The Refugee and Migrant Centre in Frederick Street and marched through central Birmingham. / Photo: AA

Many residents in the city of Birmingham feared tense scenes and even violence in the wake of far-right riots that have roiled the country over the past week.

Several far-right groups were planning to gather outside a local refugee centre, but dozens of counter-protesters rallied outside the facility, situated across from the city's historic Chamberlain Clock, to take a stand against racism and anti-migrant sentiment.

In the end, the far-right groups did not turn up, allowing the city in England's West Midlands region and the centre to take a sigh of relief.

Members of the Stand Up To Racism platform delivered remarks on loudspeakers at the event, which had become a peaceful show of solidarity for minority groups, refugees, and migrants in the country.

"Fascist scum, out of Brum (Birmingham)!" the crowd chanted.

Birmingham, a multicultural melting pot of about 1.2 million residents, is home to more than 300,000 Muslims. Minority groups here have been vocal about the discrimination and physical attacks they have faced in their daily lives.

This would have been the first far-right event in the city since riots have gripped other parts of the UK, with violent mobs spewing racist and anti-Muslim vitriol and targeting Muslims, minority groups and migrants.

The riots were fueled by online misinformation that the suspect arrested in Southport after the fatal stabbing of three children last week was a Muslim asylum seeker, a claim which was false.

Andrew, a local resident, said what the UK has been witnessing over the past several days has been "scary and disgusting".

"Our city is very diverse. We just want to show that far-right and fascists who are coming down don't represent us and represent our city."

Government, media to blame

Luke, a resident of nearby Dudley, said the unrest had left members of ethnic minorities in his area alarmed to the point that they could not take their children outside in the past week.

He said the media and the authorities have been scapegoating migrants and people of colour.

"The way things are framed is, 'these people over here are to blame for your problems'," he said, adding that while the root cause was that "people are frustrated", this was due to spending cuts and an ongoing cost of living crisis.

He also blamed high-profile far-right figures like Tommy Robinson, the head of an anti-Muslim xenophobic fascist group called the English Defense League, for inciting racist violence.

"It's like shaking a bottle of pop and someone like Tommy Robinson is, I wouldn't say so much taking the lid off the bottle, but shooting into it and letting it blow."

Christine, who joined the counter-protest from Wolverhampton, said she was at another demonstration in Tamworth after a group of far-right demonstrators set a hotel there ablaze.

She stressed the need for public shows of rejection towards the activities of the far-right, calling on authorities to bring those responsible to justice for torching the hotel that housed asylum seekers.

Christine said one of her friends was hurt by a firework shortly before the hotel was set on fire.

"I blame the government, the present government, as well as the previous Tory government, because they're using the rhetoric of immigration to try and solve the problems that are happening. And it's not immigrants. It's not the boats.

"We've got a huge, big crisis, and they're just looking for soft targets to deflect," Christine said.



AA

Responding to rumours of a protest targeting a migrant and refugee centre, hundreds of anti-racism protesters marched through central Birmingham.


Fighting fascism

Dave, who was at the demonstration with his wife, said he had been vocal about injustice and far-right fanaticism for decades and that this ideology had no place in Birmingham.

"It is frightening, but I think we've always had a good tradition here of fighting fascism," he said.

"Going right back, I was involved in actions against racism, actions against the far-right back in the 70s and 80s, when we had groups like the anti-Nazi League and Rock Against Racism and we're trying to do now what we did then, which is get out on the streets and stop the fascists wherever they go. And you find that most communities will come together to stop the fascists."

According to Dave, the issue of immigration is being "whipped up by the likes of" Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage, a politician and lawmaker who leads the far-right political party Reform UK, as well as former home ministers like Suella Braverman and Priti Patel. Both have made a name for themselves with their anti-migrant stance.

"They have been part of the cause. They keep going on about stopping the boats, making out that refugees are a problem when it's not, when the problem lies with our ruling-class people, the people who got the power, people who got the money and it's them and the media that whip up hatred against asylum seekers," he said.

 

Northern Ireland violence shocks Muslims and stokes fears over sectarian divides

Region has seen nightly unrest mainly in pro-UK loyalist neighbourhoods

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The National

11 August, 2024

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A week of racism-fuelled disorder in Northern Ireland, sparked by disturbances in English towns and cities, is proving harder to end, with fears that Christian sectarian divisions are feeding into the violence.

“They burnt every single thing, there is nothing left inside, just ashes,” said Bashir, a businessman whose supermarket in Belfast was torched during attacks against foreign-owned shops and businesses.

A mosque in a town near Belfast was attacked on Friday.

“We are scared at what may happen next, there is lots of hostility against the Muslim community,” said the 28-year-old from Dubai.

Northern Ireland has suffered nightly unrest, mainly in pro-UK loyalist neighbourhoods, that began after an anti-immigration protest in Belfast on August 3.

The violence has mirrored disorder across England, spurred by misinformation spread on social media about the suspected perpetrator of a knife attack in Southport on July 29 which killed three children.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said Saturday that 31 people have been arrested during the disturbances.

“On a fundamental level, the Belfast attacks are similar in its dynamic to anti-immigration protests in white working class areas in England, the Republic of Ireland and elsewhere in Europe,” said Peter McLoughlin, a politics lecturer at Queens University Belfast.

“It is driven by racism and fear of the other, but in Northern Ireland it also interfaces with sectarian political dynamics,” he told AFP.

'Under attack'

Three decades of violent sectarian conflict known as the Troubles largely ended in 1998, but bitterness and frictions persist between pro-UK Protestant loyalists and pro-Irish unity Catholic nationalists that took root hundreds of years ago.

Outside Bashir's smoke-scarred shopfront in the loyalist inner-city district of Sandy Row, British Union flags flutter on lampposts and painted wall murals proclaim fierce allegiance to the UK.

“Within loyalism there is a sense that prevailed through Northern Ireland's peace process that their community is in retreat, that their community and British identity is under attack,” Mr McLoughlin said.

Many loyalists feel they “must oppose outsiders coming into those areas, who are seen as taking supposedly Protestant jobs and houses, and encroaching on a community that was once dominant.”

After last Saturday's anti-immigration protest, rioters rampaged through streets looking for foreign-owned businesses to attack.

“What happened last week was crazy,” Yilmaz Batu, a 64-year-old Turkish chef who has been living in Northern Ireland for two years, told AFP.

“There was never any trouble before,” he said, sitting at the Sahara Shisha Cafe, one of several Middle Eastern and Turkish-owned businesses near Sandy Row that were hit.

The Northern Ireland Muslim Council said in a statement that “the vast majority of the violence has been whipped up and fuelled by deliberate misinformation and disinformation on social media”.

“False and dangerous narratives” about Muslims who “constitute a small minority in Northern Ireland” led to the attacks, it added.

'Extremely shocking'

Northern Ireland has low rates of immigration compared to the rest of the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

The 2021 census showed about six per cent of the population were born outside the UK or Ireland, with around 97 per cent describing their ethnicity as white.

The disorder was “extremely shocking for the wider community,” said Fiona Doran, chair of the United Against Racism group which co-organised a solidarity rally in Belfast on Saturday.

The demonstration, which drew several thousand people, gave people “a chance to come out on the streets, to show that Belfast is a welcoming city, it's a city that says no to racism and fascism”, she told AFP.

At an anti-immigration rally the previous day in Belfast, around 100 protesters carried British flags and placards reading “respect our country or leave!”

Some chanted the name of Tommy Robinson, a notorious anti-Muslim agitator who has been accused of helping to fuel the unrest in England through constant social media posts about the events.

Nearby, behinds ranks of armoured police vehicles, more than 1,000 counter-protesters chanted “racists out!”

Bashir told AFP on Saturday he is unsure if he will reopen his supermarket.

“My question is: are we able to do that? If we do, it will be because of all the people who came out to show us support,” he said following the solidarity demonstration.

Updated: August 11, 2024, 8:17 AM

Up to 15,000 people take part in anti-racism rally in Belfast



Demonstrators take part in a United Against Racism rally in Belfast (PA)

By Cate McCurry, PA

Yesterday 

Up to 15,000 people have taken part in an anti-racism rally in Belfast, following a week of rioting and disorder in the city.

Saturday’s protest started at Writer’s Square, where a huge crowd assembled, many holding placards with anti-racism and pro-migrant messages.

Organised by the United Against Racism group, the protesters made their way to City Hall in Belfast, chanting “When migrants’ rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back”.

Many waved Palestinian and Pride flags, with homemade placards that included Belfast-themed messages “scundered for racists” and “Ulster says yeooo to migrants”.



Demonstrators take part in a United Against Racism rally in Belfast, chanting and carrying placards (PA)

It came after around a thousand people gathered in the city for a counter-protest against several hundred anti-immigration demonstrators on Friday evening.

A heavy police presence and barriers were put in place to keep the two groups apart at Belfast City Hall, while Donegall Square North and Wellington Place were closed to traffic for several hours.

More than 120 groups took part in Saturday’s demonstration.

Up to a dozen people made speeches on a stage outside City Hall, including women from migrant groups, a representative from a racial equality group, union representatives, politicians and a migrant whose business was attacked last week.




The Belfast community was praised for its inclusivity by migrants who spoke to the crowd (PA)

Areeg Fareh, from Anaka Women’s Collective, said: “We have made Northern Ireland our home. We are in communities all around the city.

“Yes, we have experienced racism. It is challenging and it hurts but most people here have shown us kindness and understanding.

“We bring skills and knowledge in a diverse range of areas, from medicine to engineering, to business and computers to art and culture. We have much to give and want to share with you all.”

Raied Al-Wazzan, who is vice chairman of the Northern Ireland Council for Racial Equality and a Muslim who has lived in Belfast for more than four decades, told the crowd that he “feels proud” to have chosen the city to make his home.

“Today, I can see lots of good people around me from every corner of Northern Ireland, from every religion and age and every political background,” he added.

“Ethnic minorities are part of the fabric of Belfast. I have spent 43 years of my life here contributing to this community. And I am going to stay here.

“And I will not go away.”

Sinn Fein MLA Deirdre Hargey said: “Belfast, it’s great to see so many of its citizens here today in defiance of the Islamophobic and racist violence and thuggery that we have witnessed the past week.

“Belfast is a welcome, progressive and forward-looking inclusive city. It’s a place I am proud to call home.

“It’s a place which is proudly diverse. It is the home of emancipation, of anti-fascism, of civil rights, community organising and the one that resisted oppression and discrimination.

“The seeds of Islamophobia and racist violence and destruction and thuggery are disgusting and not reflective of the Belfast we love and know.”

SDLP MP for South Belfast Claire Hanna said: “Thank you for being here to stand up to racism and Islamophobia and thank you for pushing back on the joyless empty rhetoric from the same people who look for new ways to divide our community and look for new wedges to divide through this society.

“Grifters trying to take people down another dead end, distorting the world views of others who are tired and easily preyed on.



People of all ages joined the peaceful rally (PA)

“Thank you for pushing back on the mind-binding logic on the people who stood here yesterday with placards saying ‘protect our kids’, but who sent 10 and 12-year-olds to skirmish with the police.”

People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said: “15,000 people are here to say no to racism and the poison of fascism and that migrants are welcome.

“Refugees are not the enemy. This city is an anti-fascist city and the racists will not win.

“Everywhere they attempt to spread their poison, we will be there to oppose them every step of the way.

“The racists do not represent the majority, they thrive off despair and hate and exploit people’s fears and anger and the antidote to politics of fear is politics of hope.

“We say people have every right to be angry but your enemies are not refugees or migrants, your enemies are billionaires and politicians who have wrecked our society.”


Saeb Shaath, who owns a Middle Eastern shop in Belfast, said: “There are 3,000 asylum seekers in Northern Ireland. They are not illegal immigrants. They came here because bombs landed on their houses, war came to them and they wanted sanctuary.

“The wars are caused by who? By the imperialists and the Zionists.”

Bashir, a supermarket manager in Belfast whose business was burned in violent scenes following an anti-immigrant protest, said: “It is really lovely to see all of the beautiful faces around me.

“They call me the unofficial mayor of Belfast, can you believe that?

“15,000 people today. What a number. I’m so proud as a Muslim and part of your community and as someone who has lived in Belfast for over five years.


“Four days ago when I was working, six guys wearing masks attacked me, and I was almost killed.

“At the same time, our shop was burning down. I saw all that fire eating our shop, nothing left. Just ashes.

“For what? For nothing.”

Police have planned a significant operation ahead of the planned protests over the weekend.

Rioting erupted across the UK due to misinformation online that the suspect in the stabbing of three young girls in Southport last month was a Muslim asylum seeker.

Since last Saturday, businesses, homes and people have been targeted by anti-immigrant protesters across Belfast.

A total of 26 people have been arrested as part of investigations into disorder in recent days, with 22 people charged.

Hundreds gather in Scottish cities to protest against racism

By Paul Cargill

THE SCOTSMAN
Published 10th Aug 2024, 

Protesters hold banners during a "Stop the Far Right" demonstration at George Square in Glasgow, Scotland.

The demonstrations in Glasgow’s George Square and outside the Scottish Parliament took place following the disorder elsewhere in the UK over the last week

Hundreds of anti-racism demonstrators have gathered at rallies in Edinburgh and Glasgow after violent disorder erupted elsewhere in the UK.

The civil unrest came after the killing of three young girls in Southport, after which disinformation was spread about the suspect on social media.

The campaign group Stand Up To Racism Scotland (SUTRS) organised counter-protests outside Holyrood in Edinburgh and in George Square in Glasgow.

Protesters hold banners during a "Stop the Far Right" demonstration at George Square Glasgow

Demonstrators carried placards and banners displaying slogans such as “No to racism” and “Refugees welcome: Stop the far right”.

One campaigner posted on X along with a video capturing the large crowd in George Square: “This is Glasgow. Sending a LOUD and CLEAR message to the FAR RIGHT. These are OUR STREETS.”

Other videos posted online showed a man holding a sign reading: “Asylum Frauds Out” was met with chants of “Refugees are welcome here” and led to him leaving amid outbreaks of cheers and applause.

The demonstrations follow similar counter-protests in Bathgate and Paisley on Friday, which were the first to be held in Scotland following riots across parts of England.

Yesterday, it was revealed that John Swinney had written a letter to X, TikTok, and Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – saying police chiefs in Scotland have raised concern at the length of time it takes for technology companies to remove “problematic” posts.

In it, the First Minister told social media bosses: “It is clear to me that social media platforms have a duty to take action to ensure that individuals in our society are not subjected to hate and threatening behaviour, and that communities are protected from violent disorder.”

He added: “Everyone has a role in stopping the spread of misinformation. You and your platform have a specific responsibility to do so.”

The social media giants have been told to set out how they are combating racist and hateful speech spread across the platforms, with Mr Swinney adding: “Given the seriousness of the situation, action needs to be immediate and decisive.”

Pressure has been growing on social media giants in recent days, with former Scottish first minister Humza Yousaf describing X, formerly Twitter, owner Elon Musk as “one of the most dangerous men” on the planet at a talk in Edinburgh on Thursday.

Digital Ofcom watchdogs also wrote to social media bosses to remind them of their obligation to remove dangerous communication.

‘People just like rioting’: why swift justice may blur real motivations behind UK rampage

Lizzie Dearden
Sun, 11 August 2024 

Protests in MiddlesbroughPhotograph: Gary Calton/The Observer


Last Sunday afternoon a homeless mother-of-five left her hotel room in Middlesbrough to nip to a nearby shop. On her way, 34-year-old Stacey Vint bumped into some locals she knew and joined them on their way to what had been described on social media as a “pro-British” protest in the town centre.

Five days later, she found herself being handed a 20-month prison sentence for violent disorder after becoming part of a 1,000-strong riot that saw police attacked as homes, cars and public buildings were vandalised.

A barrister representing Vint, who had drunk alcohol and smoked cannabis on the day, told Teesside crown court that her involvement was “simple”.


“One of the group she was with asked her to give him a hand with a wheelie bin, which had been set on fire, and she did,” Andrew Turton said. “Stupidly, she took hold of the bin, pushed it towards police, and fell at their feet.”

A 10-second video of the incident, which had already gone viral amid ridicule on social media, showed Vint and an unidentified man wheel the burning bin towards a line of officers, before it slid out of control and dragged her to the ground.

The smashed windows at Teesside crown court were still boarded up as the judge, Francis Laird KC, sentenced Vint, telling her the “large-scale act of public disorder” had caused significant physical and financial damage to her home town, traumatised police officers and terrified residents.

The judge found that Vint had no racist or ideological motivation for her offence, but that her sentence had to be increased because of the riot’s scale, impact and the “backdrop of other violent incidents” across the country.

The court heard that Vint’s life had been blighted by drug and alcohol abuse and domestic violence, and that she had become homeless after fleeing an abusive relationship and seeing all five of her children taken into care.

As Vint sat impassively in the dock, wearing a grey prison tracksuit, Turton said she had “expressed shame and regret” and “understood the need for the court to impose deterrent sentences”.

Such sentences were being handed out at remarkable speed at courts across England and Wales on Friday, with Vint just one of more than 300 people so far charged with offences linked to violent protests and riots that broke out following the killing of three young girls in Southport on 29 July. Initially fuelled by false online claims that the perpetrator was a Muslim small-boat migrant, far-right influencers and conspiracy theorists called for people to take to the streets and amplified planned protests in dozens of towns and cities.

Although the misinformation was debunked within a day, demonstrations advertised on multiple social media platforms under vague slogans including “enough is enough”, “save our kids” and “protect our country” became a vehicle for wider anti-Muslim, racist and xenophobic rage.

But at Teesside crown court on Friday, there was little exploration of rioters’ motivation. Evidence of an offender’s mindset is not needed to prove the crime of violent disorder, nor other common charges against rioters such as assault and criminal damage.

Also being sentenced alongside Vint was 21-year-old Charlie Bullock, who was seen launching rocks towards police with his face covered by a balaclava during the Middlesbrough riot. He fought the police who tried to arrest him, and when eventually detained told them: “I couldn’t give a fuck.” He was jailed for 18 months, with the sentence having been reduced because of his young age and evidence that his behaviour may have been affected by a failure to take ADHD medication.

Like Vint, he had refused to answer any questions in his police interview and pleaded guilty to violent disorder without giving evidence in court, but was also found not to have any racial or ideological motivation.

When the time came to sentence a third rioter, who had thrown bricks at police in Darlington on Monday 5 August, the issue could not be so easily resolved.

Cole Stewart, 18, admitted launching the missiles at a line of officers keeping protesters away from a mosque, but claimed a police van was his target and that he held no racist or far-right views. “He came across the protest, having consumed alcohol, and got involved because everybody else was doing it,” said defence barrister Gary Wood. But prosecutors told the court the offence was a “racially motivated attack” and that the teenager’s sentence should be increased accordingly. Judge Laird said a “trial of issue” would be held if agreement could not be reached.

Two other rioters due to be sentenced last Friday had their cases delayed, including a man who was driven from HMP Darlington to Newcastle, instead of Middlesbrough, “in error” and another inmate who refused to leave his prison cell.

Keir Starmer has promised “swift justice” for those who engage in disorder, having overseen the controversial use of 24-hour courts and ramped-up sentences for more than 2,000 adults and children convicted over the 2011 riots as director of public prosecutions.

Legal experts are urging the current government to learn the lessons of that response, and not to repeat the Conservatives’ failure to fully investigate the drivers of that disorder.

Tim Newburn, a criminology professor at the London School of Economics, said that “procedural speed” and punishment had been prioritised over a deeper assessment of how and why the 2011 riots spread.

“The danger in all of these cases is that we reach for a simplistic explanation and that comes to dominate,” he added. “There is the potential that what’s beginning to be revealed in the court is more complex than the political or general narrative. A failure to investigate is to fail to take the opportunity to mitigate future problems.”

Dr Hannah Quirk, a reader in criminal law at King’s College London, said that history has shown that “people just like rioting … some have really nasty motives and some are just vulnerable and get caught up in it”.

She said that the current disorder was much smaller in scope than 2011, but had been similarly “localised” and exacerbated by allegations of racially biased policing.

Related: There can be no excuses. The UK riots were violent racism fomented by populism | David Olusoga

Thom Brooks, professor of law and government at Durham University, said that the “extraordinary” speed of sentencing was being enabled by a wave of guilty pleas, and may slow when more complex cases reach the courts. “There has been huge effort to get cases in court right away for the obvious reason of deterring people,” he added. “Police and prosecutors also seem to be conducting a social media campaign seeing people named and shamed.”

Minutes after Vint and Bullock were jailed on Friday, Cleveland Police published their mugshots alongside news of their sentences on Facebook. The posts were met by a chorus of jokes, celebratory comments and applause emojis. Bullock’s mother was the only show of support at Teesside Crown Court, holding her head in her hands as his sentence was passed before trying to speak to the teenager as he was taken down to the cells.

As she was helped out of the courtroom by a friend, staff were already preparing for Monday, when a new group of rioters will stream into the dock to hear their fate.

Examples of anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant rhetoric in right-wing press that led to reprimand

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead 

Today
LEFT FOOT FORWARD

These hostile stories about Muslims and immigrants in the right-wing newspapers were criticised at the time, but unfortunately, the reprimand did little to permanently eliminate such inflammatory headlines.

The wave of far-right violence across the UK has dominated the headlines all week. On August 5, the Daily Mail featured a photo of Tommy Robinson on holiday in Cyprus, with a headline accusing him of “stoking riots from his sunbed,” referencing over a hundred posts Robinson allegedly made online over the weekend.

This type of coverage has been criticised, deemed hypocritical given these newspapers’ history of sowing division and hatred. Online, images of past anti-migrant frontpages have resurfaced, including inflammatory claims by the Daily Express such as“Migrants rob young people of jobs” and “Every 4 Minutes a Migrant is Arrested in Britain.”

Hasan Patel, a strategic communications expert and former journalist, criticised the Daily Mail’s “Summer of Discontent” frontpage. He argued that the paper has significantly contributed to the climate of hate that fuelled the recent riots. “You have the @DailyMailUK acting like the #FarRight #FarageRiots was due to the Labour government, yet they as a media under Dacre have a lot to answer for in the way they have whipped up hate,” Patel wrote on X.

Others shared similar sentiments, suggesting that the Daily Mail and other right-wing media outlets bear significant responsibility for the current unrest. Comments ranged from accusing the media of spreading hatred and racism to asserting that these newspapers are among the primary culprits for the violence and fatalities.

Here are some of the worst examples of hostile Muslim and immigrant rhetoric promoted by the right-wing press that faced reprimand at the time, yet, unfortunately, did little to eradicate such derogatory and divisive headlines permanently.

Daily Mail, Telegraph and Sun’s ‘4,000 foreign criminals’ headlines in 2013

In 2013, the Daily Mail led with a story headlined “4,000 foreign criminals including murdered and rapists we can’t throw out… and, yes, you can blame human rights again.’ The article claimed that nearly 4,000 foreign murderers, rapists, and other criminals were roaming the streets, free to commit new crimes.

The Sun and Telegraph opted for the same divisive angle, headlining: “Four thousand foreign cons dodge boot and “Almost 4,000 foreign criminals live freely in UK” respectively.

However, analysis of the claims by fact-checkers Full Fact concluded that while there were just under 4,000 foreign national offenders living in the community subject to deportation, there was no evidence as to how many of these were guilty of the offences, as was suggested.

“This doesn’t sit well with the Mail’s headline suggesting these are substantially murderers, rapists and those convicted of other serious crimes,” wrote Full Fact.

The Sun’s misleading information about Muslims, 2016

In 2016, the Sun was reprimanded for publishing misleading information in November 2015 about British Muslims, which the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) deemed significantly misleading. The article was based on a poll carried out after the Paris terror attacks and said: “nearly one in five British Muslims has some sympathy with those who had fled the UK to fight for IS in Syria.”

Ipso ruled that the article breached the accuracy clause of its editors’ code and that the paper’s presentation of the poll had been “significantly misleading.”

An Ipso spokesman had said: “The newspaper had provided various interpretations of the poll result which conflated important distinctions between those travelling to Syria and those already fighting in Syria; between “sympathy” for these individuals and “support” for their actions; and between individuals attracted by the ideology of IS, and the ideology of IS itself.”

Daily Express editor admits past headlines contributed to ‘Islamophobic sentiment,’ 2018

Similarly, in 2018, the Daily Express’s editor admitted that past headlines had contributed to an “Islamophobic sentiment,” during a Home Affairs Committee inquiry. Editor-in-chief Gary Jones was one of a number of senior journalists who faced a grilling by the Committee into the treatment of people from minority groups by the press. Jones expressed discomfort with past headlines and acknowledged the newspaper’s role in advancing Islamophobia.

“Each and every editor has a responsibility for every single word that is published in the newspaper and yes, cumulatively, some of the headlines that have appeared in the past have created an Islamophobic sentiment, which I find uncomfortable,” he told the committee.

“I’ve gone through a lot of former Express front pages and I have felt very uncomfortable looking at them. Individually they may not present specific issues. There have been accuracy issues on some of them and some of them are just downright offensive.”

Daily Mail criticised by the Muslim Council of Britain, 2022

The Daily Mail faced further criticism in 2022 from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which accused the newspaper of exacerbating hatred by attacking Conservative leadership hopeful Penny Mordaunt for meeting the MCB’s secretary general, Zara Mohammed. The MCB accused the paper of peddling negative stereotypes against Muslims.

Given the persistent pattern of sensationalist and divisive reporting by right-wing newspapers, it’s no surprise that many are criticising these media outlet for their role in escalating tensions in Britain. As the UK contends with the aftermath of the recent riots, a critical question remains: Will these media outlets ever be held accountable for their role in fuelling division and hatred?

‘Terrifying’: How has the European media reacted to the UK riots?

Gabrielle Pickard-Whitehead 

Yesterday

LEFT FOOT FORWARD


‘This will end badly and will extend to other European countries.’   

The violence that escalated in Britain this week was extensively reported across Europe. The European media reacted with shock and condemnation, with news outlets across the continent emphasing the far-right provocation behind the unrest.

In Spain, the term ‘Reino Unido’ (UK) has been trending online all week. Social media posts about the far-right riots have been widely circulated, accompanied by scathing and embarrassing newspaper headlines.

El Mundo, Spain’s second largest printed daily newspaper, featured the headline: “Tension grows in England after the third night of riots promoted by the extreme right against Islam.” The article details the arrests in Sunderland on the third night of violent riots, driven by the far-right campaign against Muslim communities, refugees, and immigration policy in general.” It features a post from Tommy Robinson promoting a march in Manchester with the chant: “Lefty scum off our streets.” The piece also quotes the anti-fascist group Hope Not Hate, which explains that the protests are being organised by people who are connected online to decentralised far-right networks.

Readers shared their thoughts on the article. One commented: “The images that are coming from London and other parts of the United Kingdom are terrifying,” adding: “This will end badly, and will extend to other European countries.”

Another article in El Mundo headlined: “Tommy Robinson, the fake news man fuelling UK riots,” describes the far-right activist as spreading all kinds of hoaxes on social media in his anti-immigration crusade.

France’s media echoed a similar narrative. The nation’s daily Le Monde newspaper described how violent far-right groups, formed online, having clashed with police. Le Figaro, a centre-right daily newspaper, noted a ‘whiff of civil war’ in the air.

France’s reaction to the UK riots was criticised by the Spectator, which seemed to suggest it was hypocritical. The right-wing UK publication framed its article on the French media being “well-versed in covering riots of their own, but the trouble on the other side of the Channel is unusual in that the troublemakers are regarded as far-right.”

Germany’s international broadcaster, DW, also expressed outrage, describing “far-right riots across the UK unsettle the Muslim community.” The article explains that Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised stricter action and how misinformation surrounding the fatal stabbing of three girls in Southport sparked far-right riots across the country.

At a press briefing in Berlin this week, Germany’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Sebastian Fischer, didn’t mince his words, stating, “We strongly condemn the violent riots, the violent xenophobic riots that we have witnessed in Great Britain.”

The German news agency DPA reported that several countries have issued safety warnings to their citizens in the UK. Nigeria, Malaysia, and Indonesia have all sent out alerts, advising their nationals living in or visiting Britain to stay away from demonstrations. According to the German media, a “travel alert” by the Nigerian Foreign Ministry stated that there is “an increased risk of violence and disorder occasioned by the recent riots in the UK” noting that “the violence has assumed dangerous proportions.”