The Southport rioter who tried to antagonise the police before getting pelted in his nether regions has become a poster boy for right-wing imbecility – and we are so here for it.
There was a second night of disorder and unrest in parts of England following the attacks in the North West, with more than 100 people arrested in London after protesters in Whitehall launched beer cans and glass bottles at police and threw flares at the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.
Demonstrators wearing England flags and waving banners saying “enough is enough” and “stop the boats” had congregated outside Downing Street in the wake of the killing of three young girls in a knife attack in Southport, which social media posts had wrongly claimed was carried out by a Muslim asylum seeker who crossed the Channel in a small boat.
The angry scenes also included loud chants of: “We want our country back” and: “Oh Tommy Robinson,” referring to the right-wing activist. One man wore a shirt with the slogan: “Nigel Farage for Prime Minister, Tommy Robinson for Home Secretary.”
The Met arrested 111 people for alleged offences including violent disorder, assaults on police officers, possession of knives and offensive weapons and breach of protest conditions.
As the disorder continued to break out, people have been sharing viral memes of the Southport protester who got pelted by objects after antagonising the police on social media.
Here’s a pick of the best of them:
