From the moment UK fascists started to focus on a disturbing incident that happened in Dundee, Scotland, we knew something was wrong.
A video, obviously made on a mobile phone, started to circulate on fascist social media channels. The footage showed two very young girls, probably in their early teens, in conflict with unnamed and unseen others whose voices suggested they were older.
Holding an axe
The young girls, we see two of them in focus, are clearly angry. One of them is holding an axe and a large knife.
Yes, you read that right.
Now, as we know, you can’t always tell what’s happened from a short or edited piece of video footage. And these days, it’s often impossible to know what happened before or after, or whether there any history between the parties involved.
Brutally assaulted
The two youngsters had, their family and friends claimed, been assaulted in broad daylight.
According to the hastily created appeal on a givesendgo crowdfunding page set up for the benefit of the mother of two of them, three youngsters aged 12 and 13 had been brutally assaulted by “two foreign nationals,” one male one female, having had “inappropriate sexual remarks” directed towards them.
What followed, it was claimed, was “a vicious attack” where one girl ended up on the ground being kicked senseless. At this point, another of the girls “retrieved an axe and a knife and bravely scared off the attackers, saving her sister.”
All terribly dramatic and heroic. On the far right, everyone from Elon Musk to Tommy Robinson to the violent neo-nazis of British Movement and a procession of other racists and extreme right-wingers, climbed on the bandwagon.
Needless to say, none bothered with checking this frankly crazy story, particularly the bit about a 12-year-old girl “retrieving an axe and a knife” as if such items are routinely kept handy by kids in Dundee ready for use.
But it fitted every hoped-for image in the fascist fantasy world. Young white girls having to fight off predatory foreign males. This has been the lie pushed since the first arrivals on Windrush.
Thinking people know this. But it’s still believed by too many people and the recent arrival of genuine refugees from war torn countries into the UK has unsurprisingly led to similar and more extreme claims being made.
A person of colour walking through a public park must be a sex offender or potential paedophile. A small group of refugees going for a walk in public, at any time and any place, must be a rape gang.
“I wish I could bring up my daughters like this,” said one racist on their Telegram channel.
The story built and built. And built.
Until, now, almost £85,000 has been raised.
Completely untrue
But it turned out to be completely untrue.
Police, having now charged one of the girls with possession of offensive weapons, publicly warned that misinformation was being spread about the case.
Police Scotland issued a statement saying:
We are aware of misinformation being shared on social media in relation to an incident where a Bulgarian couple were approached by youths in St Ann Lane, Dundee, on Saturday.
A 12-year-old girl has been charged with being in possession of offensive weapons. She will be referred to the relevant authorities and our enquiries are ongoing.
We would like to thank the local community for their help with our investigation and would urge the public not to share misinformation about this incident or speculate on the circumstances.
Crucially, the police also confirmed that having reviewed CCTV footage, they had found no evidence for the allegations being circulated on social media.
Living rough
It emerged that in late July the sisters were subject to much media reporting and local concern when they went missing in Dundee and since then may have been living rough on the streets.
So what of the parents? It’s a reasonable question given that that the fundraising page launched to benefit them was created by a far-right, but anonymous, X account called Aesthetica, which claims to be operated by a Canadian ‘conceptual artist’.
The account has almost half a million followers, including many prominent UK extremists.
The tens of thousands of pounds being raised are going directly to the girls’ mother, who wrote the account of events given on the fundraiser.
The youngsters will be dealt with by the relevant agencies and, we hope, their obvious issues addressed.
The police also confirmed that having reviewed CCTV footage, they had found no evidence for the allegations being circulated on social media
But what about those who spread such false news to millions without any effort to verify the claims made?
If a single person is set upon, attacked and injured by racists as a result of this Big Lie, then surely action should be taken to bring the liars to account?
It’s time that the authorities stopped pandering to racist media content and have a second, and third, look at the dangerous lies being deliberately spread by thugs and extremists with the clear intention of provoking racial conflict.
