Amid UK riots, British Muslims in Liverpool working to heal

Something worrying has happened in Liverpool since far-right and racist riots began rocking cities in England and Northern Ireland last week: Muslim women have begun exchanging safety tips online. 

"Stay in groups, keep your car windows up and doors locked," one post reads.

Children of color have been too scared to show up to the local summer vacation youth club. The UK's oldest mosque now keeps its gates chained shut most of the day, while an Interior Ministry official keeps watch from inside to monitor for potential threats.

But something remarkable has happened, too. Local Imam Adam Kelwick is beaming as he breezes in to lead prayer at the Abdullah Quilliam Mosque. He said this is because he's been busy "building bridges."

Kelwick caught global attention when he was photographed crossing a line of counterprotesters to embrace a man in a crowd chanting anti-Islam slogans outside his mosque last weekend.

"We walked over to their side and we shared food. We shared smiles. We talked. We listened," he told DW in Liverpool.

On Tuesday, things took an even more unexpected turn. "I've actually just come from one person who was at those riots, and he reached out to me. We've just been for a coffee today.

"He said to me that he actually regretted being there now," Kelwick explained.

"They're genuine people. They're genuinely worried and genuinely scared. And once they've realized that we're human, too — we care for our societies, we care for our family and we want the best for the country — then they realize that a lot of these problems that we see are also shared by us."

Donations pour in to repair buildings stormed by rioters

A few minutes drive away, the Spellow Library is still a muddy mess. Shattered windows have been hastily boarded up, and books and supplies that survived the looting by rioters on Saturday have been shipped away to safety. A bouquet of floppy sunflowers is stuffed upside down between plywood and mud-sprayed glass.

But there are signs of hope here as well. Local nail technician Alex McCormick said she was "heartbroken" when she heard the community space was stormed amid the weekend chaos. She swiftly set up an online donation page with the modest goal of attracting £500 ($635). In a few days, she's raised more than £150,000 ($190,000).

"Never did I think it would go this far," she told DW outside the library. "We've had donations from all over the world, so many kind messages, shares, comments and people donating physical books. It's just immense."

Fears unrest could boil over again

But closer to the city center, local school teacher Gemma Gray remains worried for her students and her community. She said Liverpool still feels like a tinderbox.

"It's not the aftermath. I don't think we're by any means at the end of it," she said.

"You fear the worst for your city. There's just kind of a sense of: Where do we go now? We're lost."

The UK's worst unrest in a decade began in the aftermath of a deadly mass stabbing at a children's club in the seaside town of Southport that shocked the nation. Due to the suspected killer's age, 17, details about his identity were kept quiet for days. Before long, false claims that the assailant was a Muslim asylum-seeker flooded into the gap.

Even when police finally identified the suspect as Axel Rudakubana — born in Cardiff, Wales, to Rwandan parents with no links to Islam — it did little to quell the furor.

"Social media platforms have become breeding grounds for disinformation, where far-right groups and individuals disseminate false narratives, conspiracy theories and inflammatory content to stoke existing fears and prejudices," Claudia Wallner, a research fellow with the security think tank Royal United Services Institute, told DW.

"In the case of the Southport riots, disinformation about the incident was spread to incite anger, tap into existing fears and uncertainties, and mobilize individuals to take action."

Wallner said the events are also the "culmination of long-standing issues" in the UK.

"Economic uncertainty, cultural shifts and political rhetoric have contributed to increased hostility toward migrants and minority communities."

Bad memories resurface for older British Muslims

Many of the British Muslims DW spoke with mentioned a sense of a longstanding buildup reaching a boiling point. Zaf Iqbal, a 60-year-old taxi driver,  mentioned Brexit and the rhetoric of "taking back control" as contributing factors.

"It's ignorance and misled frustration," he said.

Born and raised in Sunderland to Pakistani parents, Iqbal is among the UK's British Asian community, which, according to census figures, makes up 9.3% of the population of England and Wales.

He hoped his kids would never have to face the racism that dogged his own childhood. But those memories now feel all too familiar. Iqbal even found himself locked inside his local mosque over the weekend as police kept crowds at bay outside.

"It was frightening," he told DW over the phone. Even when the riots dissipated, he was subject to racist slurs in the street the following day.

Like others, Iqbal is now determined to heal the divisions that swelled to the fore. The top priority is preventing tensions from getting worse, a very real fear.

Don't fight fire with fire, leaders warn 

Reports of some groups of British Asian men descending on the streets of Birmingham emerged on Monday, including instances of reporters being threatened and people bearing weapons.

"That part of it I don't support. They shouldn't fight fire with fire," Mohammed Khalil, a 24-year-old born in Yemen, told DW in Liverpool. "They've given a bit of ammunition to the other side. That's not what you want. That's not what Islam represents."

Imam Adam Kelwick is also trying to spread that message, even as police brace for more disorder on Wednesday.

"Stay calm," he said. "If you react to violence with violence, and thuggery with thuggery, and crime with crime, then you're a violent, thuggish criminal just like the people you're complaining about."

Police prepare for fresh unrest

Khalil said he is planning to attend a counterdemonstration to protect an asylum support center mentioned on a list of sites suspected of being targeted by more disorder in the coming days.

"Liverpool is built on migration," said Khalil, alluding to the port city's rich history as a hub of comings and goings.

He's hoping that this time, the gathering will be peaceful and free of the violence that has marred the last week.

"This is not what Liverpool stands for," he said.

Eloise Hardy contributed to reporting.

Edited by: Davis VanOpdorp