Love Music Hate Racism planning nationwide concert series to promote unity after anti-immigration riots
nme.comPaloma Faith in London in September, and will continue nationwide, focusing on the towns and cities that were affected by far-right-inspired violence over the last month.Rioting was sparked on July 30 following the fatal stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-inspired dance class in Southport, Merseyside.
Soon after the incident, misinformation appeared online, falsely claiming that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker.Shortly afterwards, huge groups including far-right and anti-immigration extremists took to the streets around the country to riot and cause violence and disorder.
Numerous Mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers were targeted, as were various shops and libraries which were burnt out and looted.More than 130 police officers were injured during the period.
Over 1000 people were arrested following the riots, with over half of them having been charged and more than 40 rioters have so far been jailed.My message to the right wing idiots ruining our country pic.twitter.com/JN3CPohAQB— Paloma Faith (@Palomafaith) August 5, 2024Samira Ali, an organiser for Love Music Hate Racism, has spoken to The Guardian about their plans for the next 12 months. “We are doing the launch in London, which is home ground for us,” she said. “But we want to organise these gigs in the places the far right see as their territory because we want to show they are in a tiny, hateful minority.”The first gig will be headlined by Faith, who wrote passionately about the “right-wing idiots” who were rioting at the time. “As the mother of two half-Muslim North African children and as a born and raised resident and proud member of the Hackney community.
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