A neo-Nazi helped incite riots in the UK. Elon Musk criticized his sentence.

Hours after a fatal knife attack in the town of Southport in northern England last July, Andrew McIntyre set up a Telegram channel called “Southport Wake Up.” Amidst posts of anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant abuse, he urged people to take to the streets, directing them to a mosque and calling it “war”.

Mr. McIntyre, 39 years old, who participated in two of many revolts that shook Britain last summer, it was condemned to seven years in prison last Monday.

He pleaded guilty to inciting violent disorder and criminal damage, and possession of a knife. A day after his sentencing, Elon Musk, the billionaire tech mogul, lamented Mr. McIntyre’s sentence in a post on his social media platform X, stating: “More than 7 years in prison for social media posts… Whoever gave this sentence deserves prison.”

“I think it’s really important to note here how extreme are the individuals that Musk has defended and engaged in Europe and the United Kingdom in recent months,” said Joe Mulhall, the director of research for Hope Not Hate, a British . based advocacy group that investigates extremism, particularly on the far right.

While Mr. Musk used his platform to amplify Tommy Robinson, Britain’s most famous far rightthe tech billionaire has also spoken out in favor of lesser-known figures such as Mr. McIntyre. In doing so, Mr. Mulhall said, Mr. Musk expressed support for a neo-Nazi who has previously been a member of fascist groups.

Mr. Musk did not respond to a request for comment.

The riots of the summer followed a dead attack on a dance class in Southport on July 29, in which an assailant with a knife killed three children and injured several others. Misinformation quickly spread on social mediastating that the suspect, who was later identified as Axel Rudakubanahe was a Syrian asylum seeker who had arrived on a small boat, when in fact he had been born in Wales.

Research conducted by Hope Not Hate has shown that Mr McIntyre used a Telegram account in the hours of the Southport attack to call for violence and later created a TikTok account and a Telegram channel to promote it, calling the latter “Southport Wake Up”. He shared a post under a pseudonym on that Telegram channel encouraging a demonstration the next day on St Luke’s Road in Southport, near the site of the knife attack, and drew a red circle around a mosque in that road He added the message “time for a 🔥TIME FOR WAR”.

On July 30, a violent mob targeted the mosque that Mr. McIntyre had highlighted, and dozens of police were injured. Days of disorder shook Britain over the next week, as rioters clashed with police, set cars on fire, attacked mosques and looted businesses.

Later, by combing through various accounts managed by Mr. McIntyre on social media and messaging platforms, Hope Not Hate found posts by him on August 3, declaring that “Mosques must burn,” and on August 6 August called for murder. of all Jews, Muslims and Blacks, and adding: “White Power”.

His extremism stretched years before the riots. Mr McIntyre posted a selfie in July 2022 in which he gave a Nazi salute, and after his arrest, police found a copy of ‘Mein Kampf’, Hitler’s political manifesto, in his home.

Merseyside Police, which oversees policing in the Liverpool area, said Mr McIntyre’s Telegram messages encouraged others to take part in violent disorder and cause criminal damage in Southport. He also made other “failed attempts to incite disorder in other places,” police said in a statement.

Mr McIntyre took part in riots in Southport on July 30 and in Liverpool on August 3, police said, and had a knife when he was arrested on August 8.

Paula Jones, a detective inspector with Merseyside Police, said Mr McIntyre played a key role in coordinating the July 30 riot, using social media to encourage people to travel to Southport and Liverpool to do criminal damage.

Mr. McIntyre’s social media footprint included graphic threats of violence and violence against other users. “It’s also a useful case study in understanding the hypocrisy at the heart of Musk when it comes to debate in Britain,” Mulhall said. “On the one hand, Mr. Musk is complaining abuse of women through grooming gangswhile simultaneously defending the rights of individuals to use social media to send threats of violence and death threats to women.

Mr Musk’s decision to take back the once-banned accounts of other members of the British far-right, including Mr Robinson, has significantly raised his profile and helped spread extremist ideology, according to groups that monitor the extreme right. (Mr. Robinson is currently in prison for contempt of courtalthough his account on X remains active, and supporters have posted in his post.)

Sophia Gaston, a British political analyst and visiting fellow at King’s College London, said Mr. Musk’s focus on Britain aligns with broader scrutiny of the country by the MAGA movement. Mr. Musk criticized the British government and authorities for efforts to combat hate speech and violent rhetoric, acting as a defender of freedom of expression.

“But there is a difference between that amplification of voices outside the mainstream of political life and giving a focus to those who have been convicted of criminal offences,” Ms Gaston said. “In McIntyre’s case, these are not spurious laws around political correctness, which can be open to interpretation. These are laws around public disorder and violence, which are vital to protecting life and property “.