If you are affected by anything you read here, you can talk to us. We will listen to you and believe you. And we never judge.
Rape Crisis England & Wales mourn the murders of Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe and Alice da Silva Aguiar. We send our heartfelt condolences to their family and friends, and all those who were involved in – and affected by – the horrendous events which took place in Southport last week.
The terrorisation of racially minoritised communities which has ensued, including against (and not, as rioters claim, in defence of) vulnerable women and children, should be understood as an inevitable consequence of anti-asylum-seeking, anti-migrant and in some cases blatantly anti-Muslim rhetoric and policies, which have only served to stoke hatred and intolerance.
In partnership with our colleagues at Imkaan, Rape Crisis England & Wales have been working to highlight the vulnerabilities of women and children living in Home Office provided accommodation, including the types of hotels and other premises which were attacked over the weekend. That these already marginalised groups should face further trauma and abuse of this sort should be an insult to us all.
As a network, our Rape Crisis member centres are focused on the protection and support of vulnerable women and girls, and this is not helped by having our staff, member centre staff and service users terrified to leave their home, or to attend the support session they so desperately need. Nobody engaging in this violence is helping us or them.
We do not condone and reject the insulting use of the murders of Bebe, Elsie, and Alice as a pretence for the racist and Islamophobic violence and rioting currently taking place, and we call for it to end immediately.