Tommy Robinson, former leader of the far-right English Defence League, made the link explicit in describing Osborne’s attack as “revenge” for the bloodshed in London. Rowling, for her part, pointed to heated rhetoric by Daily Mail columnist Katie Hopkins, as the Harry Potter author tweeted “let’s talk about how the #FinsburyPark terrorist was radicalised”. After the suicide bombing at a pop concert in Manchester last month, Hopkins had tweeted: “Western men. Some attacks are physical or verbal, others involve graffiti, the hurling of faeces and vomit, or the smearing bacon on car windscreens. Raffaello Pantucci, a counter-terrorism expert at the Royal United Services Institute, concurred that the spread of “poisonous rhetoric” from far-right websites to mainstream media and politics legitimised it in public discourse.

Source: Dhaka Tribune June 20, 2017 13:07 UTC