The women involved in far-right riots across UK as social media awash with hate speech
Social media has played a central role in women’s involvement in the far-right riots, writes Maya Oppenheim
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While footage shows men have dominated the far-right riots that have erupted across England and Northern Ireland, women also featured in the unrest.
More than 400 people have been arrested since the violence began – with 100 already charged and suspects now going through the courts.
Rioters have attacked mosques, ambushed riot police, set fire to a hotel housing migrants and torched a public library and Citizens Advice Bureau building. There have been multiple incidents of ethnic minorities being attacked on the streets.
One expert in gender and radicalisation told The Independent social media has led to women sometimes having a more visible role in far-right movements.
Leanne Hodgson pleaded guilty to violent disorder after video shared widely online showed her trying to ram a large bin towards a police line in Sunderland on the weekend.
At South Tyneside Magistrates Court, the 43-year-old denied involvement in the original demonstration but said she had been out drinking and became caught up in the disorder when the pub shut.
The court was told she has a long-running alcohol problem, and she was remanded in custody to be sentenced on 2 September.
In a clip from Middlesborough, 34-year-old Stacy Vint was captured pushing a burning wheelie bin, along with a man, into a police line before she fell to the ground at the feet of riot officers. She pleaded guilty to violent disorder and was remanded in custody, to be sentenced on August 28.
Sammy Woodhouse, a survivor of the Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal, has been at the protests shooting video for a website which fundraises for far-right activist Tommy Robinson.
Other women sharing posts about the demonstrations include influencers Yorkshire Rose and Laura Towler, who have tens of thousands of followers.
The riots started in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport. Misinformation spread quickly claiming the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker who came to the UK on a small boat crossing.
The already-grieving Southport community then saw the arrival of far-right thugs last Tuesday to take part in violent unrest.
Axel Rudakubana, an 18-year-old born in Wales who had been living in Banks in Lancashire at the time of the attack, has since been charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.
One person to later apologise and delete a social media post was childminder and wife of a Tory councillor Lucy Connolly.
The 41-year-old was arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred after posting on X: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f***ing hotels full of the b******* for all I care... If that makes me racist, so be it.”
She has since apologised, saying she had acted on “false and malicious” information.
Anne Craanen, senior research and policy manager at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said: “We can already see women’s involvement offline in the riots and also via social media content and the live streams that have been circulating for a while for these riots. You can see more men though to be very clear.”
She warned women – both those with hefty online followings and those without – are spreading misinformation online.
Ms Craaenen argued the rise of social media has changed women’s roles in the far right and reveals activity which previously would have been hidden.
“Men in these movements are often incredibly misogynistic and the women in these movements often also receive that misogyny,” she said.
“Women in the far right are happy to go back to their traditional gender roles, but then on the other hand that is a juxtaposition with what we are seeing with women actually becoming violent on the streets.”
She called for more attention to be paid to gender dynamics within the far right and to the role of masculinity within extremism.