Liverpool Victory Parade Car Ramming Fueled Baseless Terrorism Accusations Against Muslims

On May 26, shortly after 18:00 local time, a car drove into crowds during Liverpool FC’s victory parade on Water Street in Liverpool, England.

Merseyside Police confirmed 65 casualties, including four children, with no reported fatalities. The collision occurred just minutes before the conclusion of a citywide celebration marking Liverpool FC’s Premier League title win, which drew hundreds of thousands of attendees.

Shortly after 20:00, police arrested a “53-year-old white British” man from the Liverpool area. Although unnamed, he was swiftly taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder and drug-impaired driving. Authorities ruled out terrorism.

“White British Man” Arrested in Liverpool Incident 

Former Met Police official Dal Babu explained that promptly disclosing the suspect’s race and nationality was intended to prevent misinformation linking the incident to an Islamist attack—especially following the July 2024 case, when false claims misidentified Axel Rudakubana as an undocumented Muslim migrant, though he was a U.K.-born man of Rwandan descent who fatally stabbed three girls in Southport.

Despite this clear action, misinformation quickly spread online, falsely portraying the attacker as Middle Eastern and Asian Muslim and wrongly labeling the incident as terrorism.

Right-wing users propagated Islamophobic rhetoric well before any official statements were released.

A video verified by Misbar briefly captures the right side of the driver’s face before he speeds off, showing that it does not match the features of those falsely presented in the claims as the attacker.

False Images, Names, and Ethnicities Shared Online After Liverpool Incident

Although the police withheld the suspect’s full identity, an image of a young, bearded man circulated widely online, falsely identifying him as a Pakistani Muslim named “Muhammad Rizwan”. Others claimed he was a 35-year-old Middle Eastern Muslim.

In reality, the image originated from a TikTok video posted at 18:38 local time—over an hour before Merseyside Police confirmed the arrest of a “53-year-old white British” man at 20:17 BST (22:17 Doha time). 

The video—one of several lighthearted clips shared by the same account that day—showed parade-goers playfully interacting with police at the LFC parade and was unrelated to the suspect or his arrest.

Another image circulated online, falsely claiming to show the alleged suspect “Mohammed Costly Hakim,” said to be described by police as an Arab businessman. 

In fact, the photo shows Jesús Hernández, a Mexican sports journalist who covered Chivas de Guadalajara football news and is entirely unrelated to the incident.

Additionally, a video from the incident verified by Misbar was shared alongside claims linking it to a fabricated suspect named “Ahmed Azir Khan al-Wahabi,” 27, with captions alleging U.K. authorities suspected “football hooliganism” as the motive. Merseyside Police have not confirmed any motive and emphasize that the investigation is ongoing.

The Rise of Deadly Extremist-Driven Ramming Attacks in Europe 

Over the past decade, vehicle-ramming attacks in Europe have been taken very seriously by authorities, especially as they have resulted in hundreds of casualties and were driven by reasons ranging from far-right extremism and jihadist ideologies to other political grievances.

On December 20, 2024, a Saudi doctor who supported Germany’s far-right AfD party deliberately crashed a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing at least five people and injuring over 200. 

On June 19, 2017, Darren Osborne, motivated by far-right extremism, attacked worshippers outside a mosque in London, killing one person and injuring 15.

On July 14, 2016, one of the deadliest attacks of its kind in Europe occurred when Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel, a Tunisian-born resident of France, drove a rented truck into a crowded promenade in Nice, killing 86 people before being shot dead by police.

On December 19, 2016, Anis Amri, a rejected Tunisian asylum seeker, carried out a similar attack at a Berlin Christmas market, killing 13 before being killed in Italy.

On August 17, 2017, ISIS claimed responsibility for a van attack on Barcelona’s Las Ramblas that killed 14 people.

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