Yesterday, a horde of far-right racists besieged, attacked and tried to burn down a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham. A mob chanted “burn it” and “set it on fire” as they pushed a flaming bin through a shattered door at the base of the building. Terrified asylum seekers looked down through broken windows upon a crowd calling for their deaths. Similar scenes played out later that day at a hotel in Tamworth.

These events made up just a fraction of what is probably the worst week of far-right violence since the second world war. With no central organiser or single group behind this wave of hate, it reflects the nature of the contemporary far right, where trouble on our streets is planned and encouraged by vast decentralised networks of activists online. But while the role of the far right is fundamental, this racist violence has emerged out of an existing climate of prejudice stoked by more mainstream actors.

The troubles started on Tuesday when an angry mob rioted and tried to attack a mosque in Southport. Racist violence followed in Hartlepool the following day, then Sunderland on Friday. Remarkably, things escalated further as the weekend began, with far-right “demonstrations” descending into racist attacks, rioting and looting in Liverpool, Hull, Manchester and Stoke-on-Trent on Saturday. In the past week, Hope Not Hate has monitored more than 30 events involving racism and the far right.

What we have observed is that, while the trigger for this wave of unprecedented far-right activity was the heartbreaking attack on children in Southport, the planned protests quickly became expressive of wider hostility to multiculturalism, and anti-Muslim and........

© The Guardian