Elon Musk claims a UK civil war is ‘inevitable’. Discover the context and implications of this bold statement from the tech visionary.
The anti-immigration protests taking place in several cities of Britain have been commented on by the billionaire from the United States.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, has expressed concern that the anti-immigration protests in the UK could spark a civil war. These demonstrations have recently escalated into acts of violence.
Following a knife attack in Southport, England that claimed the lives of three children and left numerous others injured, chaos ensued in several UK cities such as Liverpool, Nottingham, Leeds, Belfast, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool and Hull. The perpetrator responsible for this atrocity was identified as Axel Rudakubana – a 17-year-old British-born citizen with Rwandan heritage. However online rumors suggest otherwise claiming that it was carried out by a Syrian migrant who had arrived via boat to Britain.
Following the tragedy, a multitude of protests erupted, featuring videos depicting protesters shouting anti-immigrant and anti-Islam slogans. These demonstrations have included incidents of arson as well as fireworks being set off during car burnings and building damages; although not all these events were violent in nature. A subset of activists has engaged in altercations with police forces, leading to numerous officer injuries along with dozens more arrests.
Musk replied to a video posted on X (previously known as Twitter), depicting unrest and shared by a social media user who attributed it to mass migration in the UK and lenient border policies. His response was that civil war is bound to occur.
Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary cautioned that individuals who engage in “criminal chaos and brutal violence” on our streets will not escape consequences. They must be prepared to face severe penalties. The office of Keir Starmer, who has held the position of Prime Minister for less than four weeks stated that the UK government supports law enforcement officers taking all necessary steps to maintain safety on our streets.
Former MI6 intelligence service chief Richard Dearlove made a claim, unsupported by evidence, that Russia was instigating the protests by disseminating false information about the Southport attack perpetrator being a migrant. He further claimed that this fake news is circulating through Channel3 Now website which has purported links to Russia. Approximately 3,000 people follow Channel3 Now’s page on X as per reports.
According to the Russian Embassy in London, the accusations are “expected manipulation” and they have disregarded them. They also accused Dearlove of being one of those who caused turmoil resulting in massive refugee migrations from various countries and regions.
Ali-Al-Shakati, an asylum-seeker believed to have arrived in the UK by boat last year, was identified as the suspect by Channel3 Now. According to reports, he had been “on the MI6 watch list and known to Liverpool mental health services.” However, Channel3 Now specializes in covering shootings mainly in America and may not be a reliable source. Furthermore, they deleted this claim later on. The website seems like an aggregator that frequently publishes fake claims intended for virality purposes.
In 2023, Channel3 received registration under a Lithuanian domain and according to British media reports, it is believed that the website’s only author is James Lawley. Mr. Lawley claims ownership of a gardening company located in Nova Scotia, Canada as per his LinkedIn profile while the site itself passes through an anonymous service provider based out of Massachusetts which conceals information about its actual owner(s).
Similar to the EU, Britain has encountered difficulties in managing a large number of immigrants over numerous years. Official data reports that as at June 2023, there were about 685,000 net migrants into the nation within a year period with Indians (253k), Nigerians (141k), Chinese nationals (89k), Pakistanis(55K) and Ukrainians among those who top the list of non-EU nationalities.
