The attack in Manchester during an Ariana Grande concert on Monday night was clearly targeted at members of the youth and children, with 22 dead so far and over 55 injured. Manchester and the rest of the United Kingdom has come together in solidarity with the victims and families, and in this time of tragedy, the country has set a precedent for how to deal with the grief that surrounds an attack such as this.
The coverage surrounding the attack from TV channels such as BBC has been sombre and serious, without unnecessary attempts to make catchy headlines or insert ‘breaking news’ tickers to get more ratings. Local and international news channels usually do not follow this practice, forgetting the norms and ethics of journalism and common decency when covering tragedies. Additionally, the reaction of most people in the aftermath of the attack has been positive – Sikh, Muslim and other communities all banded together in condemning the unjustified tragedy, and offered help in whatever way possible – taxi owners provided free transport to hospitals while residents of the area offered rooms in their houses to use if needed.
The last time an attack of this scale took place in the UK was in 2005 – the London bombings. This brings up many questions of security, where this is the first use of explosives used in the UK since 2005, even though the increasingly frequent threat alerts of an imminent attack were speculating a large-scale knife or vehicle attack that have become so common in recent times.
But yet another – not so positive – aspect to note from the reaction on social media immediately after the bombing is the fact that many resorted to blaming the attack on “Islamic terrorism” without any tangible evidence of this being the case. The international community has to band together at this juncture, and not engage in blaming an entire religion for the violence. Separating religion from the violence is important if the perpetrators are to be properly isolated. The details of what happened in Manchester are yet to be released, but even if the bombing was carried out by a Muslim, it does not mean that an entire religion should be scapegoated. Standing together at this point in time is crucial.