On 2 March, outside Cobbinshaw House Tower in the Calder’s area of Edinburgh, 23-year-old Mustafa Kokoneh repeatedly stabbed a man before chasing and striking a woman with a glass bottle.
He has since been charged with two counts of attempted murder, and both victims left the hospital with no life-threatening injuries.
As tragic as this event was — like most violent crimes in Edinburgh — you would assume its coverage would extend to the front page of Scotland’s national newspapers at best.
But there’s a difference between this stabbing and the previous 250 knife-related offences Edinburgh faced in 2024/25. Mustafa Kokoneh is an immigrant who was granted UK citizenship in 2023 – and hence this story was jet-set into the world of right-wing media coverage, connecting his malicious actions to an anti-immigration agenda.
By right-wing ‘coverage’, I am not just talking about the leader of the Reform Party Scotland, Malcolm Offord, claiming he can simply “tell by the photographs” of the stabbing, that this incident was tied to problems with illegal immigration.
Instead, I am talking about the founder of X, Elon Musk, reposting right-wing commentator Tommy Robinson’s tweet on the incident, “the invader stabbed people in Edinburgh as he tried to get into a nursery!” A claim which the Edinburgh Police later confirmed as false.
The events on March 2nd entail a far greater problem we have at hand, and surprise: it’s not immigration. Social media has become a minefield of misinformation filled with commentators distorting tragedies to suit their own political narratives. Unfortunately for them, fuelling a moral panic will do nothing to restore any safety and solidarity within the local communities they claim to care about.
Following Robinson and Musk, with 238 million followers on X total, placing this local incident onto a global stage, a plethora of posts soaked in misinformation snowballed the events of the stabbing. It also led to an anti-immigration protest right outside Cobbinshaw House tower block with signs like “Stop the boats!”
In the unusual circumstances of this event’s frenzied social media commentary, Chief Inspector Scott Kennedy ensured the case would not be treated as terror-related and stated, “I’m aware misinformation continues to be shared online about this incident, which could cause further distress in the local community.”
The ‘distress’ caused in the community showed its colours when Napier University closed its Sighthill Campus as a “precautionary measure” to protect staff and students ahead of the anti-immigration protest. Many schools and shops around the area were also temporarily closed in line with both the stabbing and the organised protest, where hundreds gathered.
Criticising this response to the stabbing is not to undermine the tragedy that took place on the 2 March. Instead, it draws attention to what right-wing commentators, or any political agenda’s commentary for that matter, choose to speak on or choose to ignore.
Just on 9 March a seven-minute drive from Cobbinshaw House tower block, seven teenagers, with one as young as 15, were arrested for their involvement in stabbing a 38-year-old man. Unsurprisingly, the response from Robinson and other high-profile right-wing commentators has been radio silent — leaving knife crime to reassume its status as a local issue at the fault of the Council and community.
Unfortunately, stopping the boats will not stop the stabbings, which are occurring too commonly in Scotland’s capital. Knife crime is a growing concern that deserves the right form of attention and prevention, not social media flame-fanning.
Image by Mark Chan for The Student
Related
Knife crime doesn’t end when you ‘stop the boats!’
On 2 March, outside Cobbinshaw House Tower in the Calder’s area of Edinburgh, 23-year-old Mustafa Kokoneh repeatedly stabbed a man before chasing and striking a woman with a glass bottle.
He has since been charged with two counts of attempted murder, and both victims left the hospital with no life-threatening injuries.
As tragic as this event was — like most violent crimes in Edinburgh — you would assume its coverage would extend to the front page of Scotland’s national newspapers at best.
But there’s a difference between this stabbing and the previous 250 knife-related offences Edinburgh faced in 2024/25. Mustafa Kokoneh is an immigrant who was granted UK citizenship in 2023 – and hence this story was jet-set into the world of right-wing media coverage, connecting his malicious actions to an anti-immigration agenda.
By right-wing ‘coverage’, I am not just talking about the leader of the Reform Party Scotland, Malcolm Offord, claiming he can simply “tell by the photographs” of the stabbing, that this incident was tied to problems with illegal immigration.
Instead, I am talking about the founder of X, Elon Musk, reposting right-wing commentator Tommy Robinson’s tweet on the incident, “the invader stabbed people in Edinburgh as he tried to get into a nursery!” A claim which the Edinburgh Police later confirmed as false.
The events on March 2nd entail a far greater problem we have at hand, and surprise: it’s not immigration. Social media has become a minefield of misinformation filled with commentators distorting tragedies to suit their own political narratives. Unfortunately for them, fuelling a moral panic will do nothing to restore any safety and solidarity within the local communities they claim to care about.
Following Robinson and Musk, with 238 million followers on X total, placing this local incident onto a global stage, a plethora of posts soaked in misinformation snowballed the events of the stabbing. It also led to an anti-immigration protest right outside Cobbinshaw House tower block with signs like “Stop the boats!”
In the unusual circumstances of this event’s frenzied social media commentary, Chief Inspector Scott Kennedy ensured the case would not be treated as terror-related and stated, “I’m aware misinformation continues to be shared online about this incident, which could cause further distress in the local community.”
The ‘distress’ caused in the community showed its colours when Napier University closed its Sighthill Campus as a “precautionary measure” to protect staff and students ahead of the anti-immigration protest. Many schools and shops around the area were also temporarily closed in line with both the stabbing and the organised protest, where hundreds gathered.
Criticising this response to the stabbing is not to undermine the tragedy that took place on the 2 March. Instead, it draws attention to what right-wing commentators, or any political agenda’s commentary for that matter, choose to speak on or choose to ignore.
Just on 9 March a seven-minute drive from Cobbinshaw House tower block, seven teenagers, with one as young as 15, were arrested for their involvement in stabbing a 38-year-old man. Unsurprisingly, the response from Robinson and other high-profile right-wing commentators has been radio silent — leaving knife crime to reassume its status as a local issue at the fault of the Council and community.
Unfortunately, stopping the boats will not stop the stabbings, which are occurring too commonly in Scotland’s capital. Knife crime is a growing concern that deserves the right form of attention and prevention, not social media flame-fanning.
Image by Mark Chan for The Student
Share this:
Like this:
Related