One year ago, the horrific murder of three young girls in Merseyside – Bebe King, Alice Da Silva Aguiar, and Elsie Dot Stancombe – was followed by one of the worst surges of racist and Islamophobic violence seen in recent British history.
Fuelled by online disinformation, algorithm-driven social media feeds, and inflammatory rhetoric by some political figures, communities across the country were left reeling. Their grief was weaponised. The names of Bebe, Alice, and Elsie were used in dishonour to justify country-wide riots, leading to targeted attacks on Muslims, immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
We remember them by committing ourselves to building a society where no group is scapegoated for political gain, and where no tragedy is hijacked to fuel hate.
What happened?
In the weeks following the murders, the UK saw a wave of violent unrest: a hotel housing asylum seekers was set on fire, mosques were vandalised and intimidated, and local businesses were looted. Muslim women shared that they didn’t feel safe leaving their homes. Elderly men, some in their 70s, were too afraid to go to their local mosque to pray.
We let boys learn to hate – and act on it
In a piece for the Muslim Council of Britain’s Substack, contributor Rukanah Mogra reflects on how our society normalises the radicalisation of boys and young men, and how this plays out in real-world violence:
📖 We let boys learn to hate – and act on it
The Southport Attack: Bebe, Elsie & Alice Deserved Much More
MCB Assistant Secretary-General Dr Naomi Green revisits the events in Southport and the political failures that followed. Her article explores what it means to truly honour Bebe, Elsie and Alice – and the work that still needs to be done:
📖 The Southport Attack: Bebe, Elsie and Alice
You Can’t Fight Disinformation With a Toothpick
In a timely piece, Hasan Salim Patel breaks down the online ecosystem that enabled falsehoods and hate to spread at lightning speed. He argues that disinformation, if left unchallenged, becomes the ground on which real-world violence is justified:
📖 Southport Riots: You Can’t Fight Disinformation With Silence
Voices from the ground
Below, we share the testimonies of those who lived through last summer’s fear. One year on, these communities are still reckoning with the trauma – asking not only how this was allowed to happen, but how we stop it from happening again.
