Hours after a deadly knife attack within the northern English city of Southport final July, Andrew McIntyre arrange a Telegram channel known as “Southport Wake Up.” Amid posts riddled with anti-Islamic, antisemitic and anti-immigrant abuse, he urged folks to take to the streets, directing them to a mosque and calling for “battle.”
Mr. McIntyre, 39, who took half in two of several riots that rattled Britain final summer season, was sentenced to seven years in jail final Monday.
He pleaded responsible to encouraging violent dysfunction and felony injury, and to possession of a knife. A day after his conviction, Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul, bemoaned Mr. McIntyre’s sentencing in a publish on his social media platform X, declaring: “Over 7 years jail for social media posts … Whoever gave that sentence deserves jail themselves.”
“I believe it’s actually vital to notice right here simply how excessive the people that Musk has been defending and fascinating with in Europe and within the U.Okay. in latest months are,” stated Joe Mulhall, the director of analysis for Hope Not Hate, a Britain-based advocacy group that researches extremism, significantly on the far proper.
Whereas Mr. Musk has used his platform to amplify Tommy Robinson, Britain’s most well-known far-right extremist, the tech billionaire has additionally spoken out in favor of lesser-known figures like Mr. McIntyre. In doing so, Mr. Mulhall stated, Mr. Musk voiced help for a neo-Nazi who has beforehand been a member of fascist teams.
Mr. Musk didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The summer season riots adopted a lethal attack at a dance class in Southport on July 29, wherein a knife-wielding assailant killed three younger ladies and injured a number of others. Disinformation soon spread on social media, claiming that the suspect, who was later recognized as Axel Rudakubana, was a Syrian asylum seeker who had arrived on a small boat, when in actual fact he was born in Wales.
Research conducted by Hope Not Hate showed that Mr. McIntyre used a Telegram account inside hours of the Southport assault to name for violence after which created a TikTok account and Telegram channel to put it on the market, calling the latter “Southport Wake Up.” He shared a publish underneath a pseudonym in that Telegram channel encouraging an indication the following day on St. Luke’s Street in Southport, close to the positioning of the knife assault, and drew a pink circle round a mosque on that street. He added the message “time for a 🔥TIME FOR WAR.”
On July 30, a violent mob focused the mosque that Mr. McIntyre had highlighted, and dozens of law enforcement officials have been injured. Days of unrest convulsed Britain over the following week, as rioters clashed with the police, lit automobiles on hearth, attacked mosques and ransacked companies.
Later, in piecing collectively numerous accounts run by Mr. McIntyre throughout social media and messaging platforms, Hope Not Hate discovered posts from him on Aug. 3, declaring that “The mosques should burn,” and on Aug. 6, calling for the killing of all Jewish, Muslim and Black folks, and including: “White energy.”
His extremism prolonged again years earlier than the riots. Mr. McIntyre posted a selfie in July 2022 wherein he gave a Nazi salute, and after his arrest, the police discovered a replica of “Mein Kampf,” Hitler’s political manifesto, in his residence.
The Merseyside Police, which oversee policing within the Liverpool space, stated Mr. McIntyre’s messages on Telegram inspired others to take part in violent dysfunction and trigger felony injury in Southport. He additionally made different “failed makes an attempt to instigate dysfunction at different places,” the police stated in a press release.
Mr. McIntyre took half in riots in Southport on July 30 and in Liverpool on Aug. 3, the police stated, and had a knife when he was arrested on Aug. 8.
Paula Jones, a detective inspector with the Merseyside Police, stated that Mr. McIntyre had performed a key position in coordinating the July 30 riot, utilizing social media to encourage folks to journey to Southport and Liverpool to commit felony injury.
Mr. McIntyre’s social media footprint included graphic threats of rape and violence in opposition to different customers. “It’s additionally a helpful case research to grasp the hypocrisy that sits on the heart of Musk relating to discussing Britain,” Mr. Mulhall stated. “On one hand, Mr. Musk bemoans the abuse of women through grooming gangs, whereas concurrently defending the rights of people to make use of social media to ship rape threats and demise threats to ladies.”
Mr. Musk’s resolution to reinstate the once-banned accounts of different members of Britain’s far proper, together with Mr. Robinson, has considerably boosted their profile and helped unfold extremist ideology, in response to teams that monitor the far proper. (Mr. Robinson is currently in prison for contempt of court, although his account on X stays lively, and supporters are posting in his stead.)
Sophia Gaston, a British coverage analyst and a visiting fellow at King’s School London, stated that Mr. Musk’s deal with Britain aligned with broader scrutiny of the nation by the MAGA motion. Mr. Musk has criticized the British authorities and authorities for efforts to fight hate speech and violent rhetoric, framing himself as a defender of free speech.
“However there’s a distinction between that amplification of voices exterior of the mainstream of political life and giving a highlight to those that have been convicted of felony offenses,” Ms. Gaston stated. “In McIntyre’s case, these should not spurious legal guidelines round political correctness, which may be open to interpretation. These are legal guidelines round public dysfunction and violence, that are very important to defending life and property.”
