Three little girls have been murdered. Six-year-old Bebe King, seven-year-old Elsie Dot Stancombe, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar had barely begun to live when their lives were violently taken away. It is impossible to comprehend how anyone could target children. Children doing what children do: having fun, dancing to pop songs. Their pictures are haunting: smiling innocence, still so young that their were teeth missing.
I can’t stop thinking about the graphic descriptions of the attack on a children’s Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, in which eight other girls were also stabbed. One victim was the same age as my eldest. I can’t quite bring myself to process how frightened they must have been. The disbelief of the local community is palpable.
When something so awful happens, we need answers. We demand them. We can’t accept that something so senseless could be just that – senseless. In today’s fast-paced, social-media-dominant world, we seemingly can’t and won’t wait. We, at times, inhibit the police from doing their job; we demand a running commentary. And when we don’t receive it, into that void of information rushes dangerous speculation.
Within hours of news of the stabbing taking place, the crime was attributed to 17-year-old “Ali Al-Shakati”, an asylum seeker who’d arrived in the UK on a boat last year, and who was supposedly on an MI6 watch list. None of this was true. The name was fake. People didn’t stop to ask why MI6 would be monitoring people on British soil, when that would generally be the preserve of MI5. Or how, when there are reporting restrictions for those under 18, the name might have leaked. Millions saw it online, and believed it.
Some people didn’t ask questions because those looking for a villain who fitted their wider political and world-view had what they needed: an excuse to stoke fear and division; to tell people that they can’t trust those who we rely on to protect us, namely the police or the government. By the time Merseyside Police felt the need to state officially that, “This name is incorrect and we would urge people not to speculate on details of the incident while the investigation is ongoing,” it was too late. The denial became part of the conspiracy: why are the police lying to us?
The police have now confirmed that the 17-year-old who has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder is from Lancashire. It’s understood his parents are Rwandans. But this hasn’t stopped elected officials subtly undermining trust in the police and politicians, and sowing seeds of doubt. In response to the attack, Nigel Farage, MP for Clacton and leader of Reform UK, asks: “Was this guy being monitored by the security services?” This is quickly followed by: “I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us.” He made similar remarks on GB News. The former actor turned right-wing contrarian Laurence Fox declared, “We are going to have to take our country back. Street by street. The politicians couldn’t care less about your kids… When they appeal for calm, I hear, ‘Shut up and stop complaining.’”
While the majority of people in Southport attended a deeply moving, peaceful vigil last night, others went out to riot. A group of mostly men gathered outside Southport Mosque, chanting anti-Muslim abuse and hurling rocks at it. It seems highly unlikely that the 17-year-old alleged perpetrator is a Muslim, given the biggest religion followed in Rwanda is Christianity. But why let the facts get in the way of hatred and violence? Those attacking the mosque, including those believed to be supporters of the far-right English Defence League, attacked police officers: a police van was set alight and missiles were thrown. The Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, branded the scenes a “disgrace”.
That anyone would use the violent murder of three young girls for their own hateful and divisive political cause is disgusting. Speaking after Tuesday night’s violent scenes, Merseyside Police assistant chief constable Alex Goss said: “It is sickening to see this happening within a community that has been devastated by the tragic loss of three young lives.” He stated clearly that the speculation around the identity and status of the suspect was being used “to bring violence and disorder to our streets”.
We know, as Taylor Swift said in her response to this horror, that the victims “were just little kids at a dance class”. I, like her, am at a complete loss as to how to convey my sympathies to the families forever changed by the attack. But I hold nothing but contempt for those seeking to manipulate such senseless violence to further their own agendas.
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