FORMER first minister Humza Yousaf has called on the English Defence League (EDL) to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation following last night's riot in Southport.
He has written to the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper calling on her to deal with Britain's "far-right problem".
There were violent clashes between police and protesters outside a mosque in the Merseyside town on Tuesday evening after three girls were killed in a knife attack the previous day.
Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
Eight other children suffered stab wounds and five are in a critical condition, alongside two adults who were also critically injured, police said.
Hundreds of people took part in a vigil on Tuesday evening, with many in tears as they laid flowers and cards of remembrance.
This was followed by the protest where demonstrators chanted far-right slogans and threw stones and bottles at officers.
Merseyside Police said “a large group of people – believed to be supporters of the English Defence League” – began to throw items towards the mosque at around 7.45pm.
Merseyside Police said an officer suffered a suspected broken nose in the chaotic scenes.
Yousaf has now called for the EDL to be proscribed as a terrorist organisation. This would make membership of the organisation a criminal offence.
He said on Twitter/X: "Violence targeting police officers, the public, and mosques, all to drive forward the far-right's hateful ideology.
Violence targeting police officers, the public, and mosques, all to drive forward the far-right's hateful ideology. Rhetoric is not enough. We need to take action against the far-right. I have asked the Home Secretary to use her powers to proscribe the English Defence League. pic.twitter.com/9orWrKUiop
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) July 31, 2024
"Rhetoric is not enough. We need to take action against the far-right. I have asked the Home Secretary to use her powers to proscribe the English Defence League."
In his letter, the MSP said the "thugs" involved in the violence were chanting "the most vile Islamophobia ever witnessed on the streets of the UK".
Pointing out it was not the first time the EDL had been involved in scenes such as this, he said the group had a "long history of violence and bigotry" and claimed they fitted the criteria set out in the Terrorism Act 2000.
The Act states that terrorism is the use or threat of action which: involves serious violence against a person; involves serious damage to property; endangers a person's life (other than that of the person committing the act); creates a serious risk to the health and safety of the public or section of the public or is designed seriously to interfere with or seriously disrupt an electronic system.
It adds the use or threat of such action must be designed to influence the government or an international governmental organisation or to intimidate the public or a section of the public, and must be undertaken for the purpose of advancing a political, religious, racial or ideological cause.
Yousaf (above) added: "There can be no doubt the EDL meet these criteria. They have, on several occasions, orchestrated serious violence to both intimidate the public and attempt to influence government, while being driven by a racist, white supremacist ideology.
"Home Secretary, Britain has a far-right problem. We need to acknowledge it, confront it and deal with it.
"I hope you will show courage and not back down in the face of populist voices that have poisoned our political and societal discourse for far too long."
The Home Office has been contacted for comment.
