UK
Southport imam tells the Canary about the far-right riot and the real situation in the town

 by Ed Sykes
19 September 2024
in Analysis
THE CANARY

After far-right rioters targeted and damaged the Southport Mosque and Cultural Centre on 30 July, the Canary went to meet Ibrahim Hussein, the mosque’s imam.

He said the attacks created a lot of worry, but that there has been a lot of support from the community and elsewhere. He also insisted that the focus of people’s support should be on the people directly affected by the tragedy that had occurred the day before the riot.

Southport, the far-right attacks, and what helped to fuel them

Hussein stated that misinformation and fake news helped to fuel the riot. One source of misinformation, he stressed, is the government, with politicians “blaming immigrants or the immigration issue for everything” and making out that “they are responsible for all the problems that Britain faces”.

He added “that is terrible – this is not the truth at all”. But because some people “like this kind of talk”, politicians carry on with it. In terms of dealing with unrest and division, he said the biggest thing politicians can do is to apply laws.

The government provided some temporary security after the riot. But as he insisted:

We don’t really want a security. We want to come and go as ordinary people, you know? You leave your home and you go to work and you don’t need security.

In the coming months and years, he stressed, “I hope we can come closer and accept each other’s differences”, with a “live and let live” attitude. And he asked:

Why be an enemy? Life is too short. You do not need to create an enemy from somebody that you don’t even know anything about. These people who came here, they hate everything around them. And they even hate themselves, because they don’t respect themselves at all. They got drunk – they were happy to act as fools. It doesn’t matter who’s in front of them – whether it’s the police, whether it’s the local community, whether it’s Muslims. What is the point of living like this?
“You can fix a building, but when life is lost, you can’t fix that”

After the far-right attacks on the mosque, meanwhile, they got “people from all over the place, not even from this area, coming from far away and they were offering their help and support”. They also received “flowers and biscuits”, along with lots of cards and letters from people showing solidarity. He said:

If you read some of the words, it really brings tears to your eyes, because they’re so supportive: ‘We stand with you’; ‘we don’t agree with this rubbish that took place’; and ‘you’re not to blame, you are welcome’.

However, Hussein insisted that it isn’t the Muslim community that really needs support right now. Instead, it’s the families of the three young girls who were killed on 29 July and the people who experienced the tragedy first-hand. “To us Muslims, family is everything”, he said, so “I can’t really imagine how they felt – the parents or the people who were actually there”. He stressed:

It’s absolutely terrible. And we really feel more for them than we feel for ourselves. This is only a building. And if it’s damaged in any way, we can fix it. But when life is lost, you can’t fix that. You can’t bring them back.

He also mentioned how much the community came together in the wake of the horrific events in July. The grieving parents condemned violence, local people helped to repair the damage that rioters had caused, and people reached out to each other to see how they were doing. And it was in those moments that people confirmed what he already felt – that the community is full of really decent people.

Not enough support for people in the wake of the July murders

Speaking about the “absolutely dreadful and awful” murder on 29 July, Hussein said the people the tragedy affected directly “need a lot of support” but they’re not getting as much as they need. Despite what politicians and media outlets have said, some local people had told him “this support is not handy, it’s not in front of people”.

Local councillor Sean Halsall, who also participated in the conversation, added:

From the beginning of this, the ruling party, the Labour Party that I was a part of, have been told not to engage the media, not to speak to people. And because of that, I think there’s been a massive void there left behind where people should have been leading the community who weren’t. And then it’s fallen on other people who shouldn’t have had that burden.

I was happy to pick it up. I’m a councillor myself, not in that ward but the neighbouring ward. But just reaching out to the communities of people who feel threatened at that time and making sure you know you’ve got allies, at least. And at best, there should have been some sort of service set up here with counselling or whatever on site in Southport. There’s plenty of empty buildings, empty shops in town that could have been repurposed for a short period of time to offer a counselling service or any other service that people need.

“Live and let live” – from Southport to Palestine

In Southport itself, Hussein said all the neighbours are very polite to mosque-goers and will congratulate them during important religious festivals. And around the time of Ramadan, he pointed out, “we usually go around with a thank you card or box of chocolates and say thank you for your patience” because of parking inconveniences, even though people are very understanding and kind about it.

He also mentioned that there have been exchanges of visits with churches and synagogues locally, with people from other faiths visiting the mosque and vice versa. He summed up by saying “you believe what you want to believe. I believe what I want to believe. It doesn’t stop me from having a cup of coffee with you and a biscuit”.

For people who are not religious, the vigils and demonstrations against Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza have served as a meeting point with local Muslims and others. As Halsall asserted:

It has been a good space for people to have conversations they might never have had before and get to know each other. And I think that, if there is any positive to come from the atrocities that are going on the Middle East, it is that bringing people together over politics and just disagreeing that genocide’s the right thing to do.

Hussein agreed. And regarding Palestine, he said:

My hopes are different from my expectations. Because all these politicians, they should know better. They know what is right and what is wrong. But it seems like it has served their purpose to support a rogue state like Israel.

Despite critiques of the genocide from within the halls of international law and the United Nations, he stressed, “the politicians seem to be looking to the other side and whistling as if they haven’t seen anything”. He also stressed that so-called ‘friends of Israel’ from political parties should, to be true friends, be honest with Israel about its actions. If you just express concerns in private, that’s not good enough, he insisted. Instead:

Justice has to be seen. People should see that justice is implemented in real life.

You can see and read Sean Halsall’s full interview with us in Southport here. And stay tuned for the final article from our visit to the town.

Featured image via the STV – screengrab