The BBC has tracked down and confronted a neo-Nazi living in Finland who shared online instructions on how to commit arson during the UK riots.
Mr AG – whose real name is Charles-Emmanuel Mikko Rasanen – was an administrator in the Southport Wake Up group on Telegram, which was key in helping to organise and provoke unrest in England and Northern Ireland in July and early August.
BBC reporters tracked him down to an apartment on the outskirts of Helsinki, Finland, where they confronted him about his role in the disturbances.
Wake Up Southport
The Wake Up Southport group was set up ion the wake of the deaths of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in the North West.
Within days it had grown to more than 14,000 members, with Rasanen helping to run the chat.
The group organised the very first protest in the UK, on St Luke’s Road in Southport, the day after the killings. That protest later turned into a riot.
Before the group was taken down by Telegram, a series of other protest locations were advertised, as well as a list of dozens of refugee centres, suggested as potential targets.
“Something fun for you to read”
Alongside that list, Mr AG posted an arson manual, writing: “Something fun for you to read.”
The manual is believed to have been written by a Russian fascist group proscribed as terrorists in their own country.
It includes details on how to avoid the police and it encourages the targeting of Muslims and Jews.
Underneath the post, other members wrote aggressive and offensive comments, including: “I’m ready for these migrant boys,” while another describes “invaders” as “a stupid bunch underestimating whites”.
Mr AG pinned the post to the top of the group, which meant it was in full view of all 14,000 members when they logged in.
“Lone keyboard warriors”
Veli-Pekka Hämäläinen, an investigative journalist at Yle, Finland’s national broadcaster, says Rasanen has been active online “for many years”.
His team has also spoken to him about his role in the UK riots. He believes Mr Rasanen’s involvement in the Southport Wake Up group transformed him from a solitary extremist into someone with an audience of thousands.
“This is an example of how lone internet keyboard warriors can turn dangerous,” says Mr Hämäläinen.
He says he has seen Finnish police records, which show Mr Rasanen was investigated when he was a teenager for making an illegal threat, but that he has never been charged with a crime.
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