Departments of Psychiatry, Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences and Wadham College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK; Global Policy Institute, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK; East London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK; Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, UK; and Department of Psychiatry, Oxford Health NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Oxford, UK
Dianndra Roberts
Publications Department, Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, UK
Myrna Lashley
Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Department of Psychiatry, Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA; Department of Psychological Medicine, Institute of Psychology, Psychiatry and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK; and Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
The UK has seen an outbreak of riots after the death of three children in a knife attack. Misinformation about the suspect's heritage and religion was spread by social media, which was then used to incite violence and racism resulting in damage to property, terror and injuries. We put forward arguments that this was an extremist act and draw on the literature on terrorism, extremism and identity to put forward a deeper analysis of how this happened and what can be done to prevent future riots. We bring an interdisciplinary perspective drawing on research from social, cultural, psychological and political perspectives.
