“It doesn’t take rocket science to predict what will happen: the far right will twist this and say, ‘right, you’ve named [the race] because it’s a white person. Why aren’t you naming [the race of] the next person?’ And it will present some difficulties and challenges to the police”, said Dal Babu, who was a senior Met officer. Babu stressed the decision had been “correct” to share the information on this occasion to combat “racist and Islamophobic misinformation” on social media, while warning that every decision should be taken on a case by case basis.
Far-right extremists used social media within minutes of the Liverpool tragedy to exploit the scenes of horror,
the Guardian has been told.
One account claimed the incident was a terrorist attack.
Another account also made false claims including that the man arrested by police at the scene was really a Muslim, despite what police had said.
