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The Telegraph newspaper has been called out for “shameful both-sidesing” of the far-right riots on Monday’s front cover (5/8).
Further outbreaks of violence were observed over the weekend amid escalating community tensions, with a hotel used to house asylum seekers set ablaze in Rotherham and another in Tamworth targeted by anti-immigration protesters.
A mob in Middlesbrough were also filmed shouting racist slurs, while some 200 people marched on a mosque in Southport chanting “who the f*** is Allah”.
Reporting on the events, The Telegraph pointed to counter-protests in a front page that has been dubbed a shameful case of “both-sidesing”.
Posting on X (formerly Twitter), David Yelland, the former editor of The Sun, described it as one of the most “repulsive, inaccurate and frankly embarrassing headlines” in the history of the publication.
He added that it has appalled many of its own journalists due to its “beneath contempt” nature.
More than 100 charges related to the riots have been laid as the head of the Crown Prosecution Service cautioned that people who have stirred up disorder online will not escape prosecution.
Dozens of people have appeared in courtrooms facing charges related to the unrest which has now lasted a week across England and in parts of Northern Ireland.
Those suspected of crimes related to the riots have started to appear at – or are listed to attend – courts in Sheffield, Manchester, Teesside and Liverpool.
One man has been charged with intending to stir up racial hatred relating to alleged posts on Facebook, and will appear at Leeds Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
In Belfast, a man in his 30s is meanwhile in a serious condition in hospital after being attacked in a suspected hate crime amid the unrest.
Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson told the BBC he was “absolutely” seeking to prosecute people for online offences related to the rioting.
The CPS chief hit out at those who had used the internet for the “purposes of incitement and planning”, adding: “If you’re engaged in that activity, then you can be prosecuted for the substantive offence that you have caused (due) to what you’ve been doing using the internet.”
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