BBC confronts neo-Nazis who tipped British rioters to commit arson

The BBC has confronted a neo-Nazi in Finland who shared online instructions on how to commit arson with British rioters over the summer.

The 20-year-old was the administrator of the Southport Wake Up group on messaging app Telegram, where he was known as ‘Mr AG’. He posted the arson manual, which was pinned to the top of the group chat.

In late July and early August, the group played a key role in organizing and inciting protests that culminated in violence in England and Northern Ireland.

We followed Mr AG – whose real name is Charles-Emmanuel Mikko Rasanen – to an apartment on the outskirts of the Finnish capital Helsinki.

It was from here, more than 1,000 miles away from Southport, that neo-Nazis played a prominent role online during the British riots.

On July 29, within hours of the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, the Southport Wake Up group was formed.

Within days it had grown to more than 14,000 members. Mr Rasanen – or Mr AG as he was known online – helped run the group chat.

The group organized Britain’s first ever protest on St Luke’s Road in Southport the day after the murders. 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 centers, presented as potential targets.

Next to that list, Mr. AG posted the arson manual and wrote: “Something fun to read.”

The manual is believed to have been written by a Russian fascist group that is labeled terrorists domestically.

It provides details on how to avoid the police and encourages targeting Muslims and Jews.

Underneath the post, other members wrote aggressive and offensive comments, including: “I’m ready for these migrant boys,” while another described “invaders” as “a stupid bunch who underestimate white people.”

Mr AG posted the post at the top of the group, meaning it was fully visible to all 14,000 members when they logged in.

At the time, several riots had broken out in Britain.

The BBC traveled to Finland to confront Mr Rasanen – we had previously emailed him. He refused to answer all our questions but did not deny sending the messages or that he was an administrator of the Southport Wake Up group.

Before we left him, he also accused the BBC of harassment and called the police.

On his Telegram accounts, Mr. Rasanen celebrates Hitler and promotes a neo-Nazi group called the Nordic Resistance Movement, which has been banned as a terrorist organization in several countries, including the US.

He also posts voice notes – in one he describes himself as a ‘national socialist’, and in the other he appears to call for the genocide of the Jewish people.

Veli-Pekka Hämäläinen, an investigative journalist at Yle, the Finnish national broadcaster, says Rasanen has been active online “for many years.”

Mr Hämäläinen’s team also spoke to him about his role in the British riots. He believes Rasanen’s involvement with the Southport Wake Up group has transformed him from a lone extremist into someone with an audience of thousands.

“This is an example of how lonely internet keyboard warriors can become dangerous,” says Mr Hämäläinen.

He says he has seen Finnish police records showing that Rasanen was investigated as a teenager for making an illegal threat, but that he was never charged with a crime.

The BBC has also been made aware of Mr Rasanen’s previous online links to a far-right white nationalist group in Britain, Patriotic Alternative (PA).

He was an active member of a private gaming group chat and his posts were shared by key figures in the PA, according to British anti-fascist research group Red Flare.

Among them was Sam Melia, the group’s regional organizer in Yorkshire, who was jailed earlier this year for inciting racial hatred.

At the time of the riots in Britain, a message from Mr AG read: “When will the same violence come to Northern Europe?”

A spokesperson for Red Flare – which for the first time identified Mr AG’s real identity and his links to Southport Wake Up – says Mr Rasanen must be held accountable for what he did.

“What we have here is a case of a young man sitting at his keyboard in another country and starting racist violence in Britain,” they say. “It exposes the transnational nature of the far right in today’s world.”

The BBC contacted Patriotic Alternative, and while the group declined to answer specific questions, it did say that what Mr AG posted on PA’s public broadcaster was “fine” and that PA was not involved in what Mr AG posted in other Telegram groups posted.

Jonathan Hall KC, the government’s independent assessor of terrorism legislation, told the BBC: “If (Mr Rasanen) were in Britain he would be arrested and prosecuted under the Terrorism Act 2006.”

Mr Hall estimates that at least half of terrorist propaganda prosecutions last year involved the Telegram app.

Britain has no extradition agreement with Finland, and the Home Office has declined to comment on whether an extradition request or other action will be taken in the matter. The BBC is not aware that an arrest warrant has been issued.

Finland’s National Police Council said it was “aware of the matter” but could not comment in more detail.

A Telegram spokesperson told the BBC that its moderators removed British channels that incited violence when they were discovered in August, including Southport Wake Up.

The statement added: “We are, of course, ready to work through the appropriate channels with both the UK and Finnish governments on this matter.”

A UK government spokesperson says efforts are underway to implement the Online Safety Act, which requires social media platforms to remove illegal content and prevent the spread of misinformation.

“We will not allow the internet to serve as a refuge for those who seek to sow division in our communities,” the spokesperson said.

Additional reporting by Rebecca Wearn, Erika Benke, Phillip Edwards and Shayan Sardarizadeh