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Ex-MI6 boss offers insight into Southport stabbings | LBC
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August 1, 2024
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3:58Now PlayingRussia could be using online disinformation to fuel far-right riots that have broken out across the UK after the Southport murders in Monday, the former head of MI6 has warned LBC.
Sir Richard Dearlove told LBC's Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that he would not be surprised if the riots in Southport, London, Hartlepool, Manchester were stoked by Kremlin bots.
Wild false rumours have spread online among far-right groups about the identity of the teen suspect accused of murdering three children and trying to murder several more in Southport on Monday.
These have led to violent protests in the Lancashire town on Tuesday, as well as others in Downing Street in central London, in Hartlepool in the north-east, and in Manchester on Wednesday night.
Over 100 people have been arrested, and dozens of police officers have been hurt, including some with serious injuries.
Sir Richard said: "We're in a state of grey warfare with Russia, we may not feel that we are, they certainly think they are, and the information space - and the exploitation of that space - is a fundamental tactic in their conflict with the West.
"So if these bots have been used to stir up through social media a violent response, I'm not the slightest bit surprised.
"People don't just seem to understand the extent of the Russian attitude to conflict and the way that every aspect of their relationship with us will be seen as a basis for attacking us".
A former security minister has echoed these claims, saying that "hostile states" were using the Southport murders to rile people up.
Stephen McPartland said: "Disinformation to undermine democracy is a huge part of the Russian playbook and just in May the British government expelled a Russian defence attache and accused the Russian Federal Security Service [FSB] of systemic malign cyberattacks aimed at undermining democracy.
Social media disinformation spread claiming that the attack was carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker who crossed the Channel in a small boat.
The false information appears to have been posted online by a website called Channel 3 News - which has since apologised - before being widely circulated on far-right social media accounts, such as Tommy Robinson's Twitter.
The 17-year-old who has been charged with the murders and attempted murders was born in Cardiff to parents who came from Rwanda. LBC has been told he comes from a Christian background. He is due in court on Thursday.
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