New Delhi: A video reposted by Elon Musk has renewed calls on X from British and American accounts to “restore Europe”, along with Islamophobic messages and memes. The clip originally posted by RadioGenoa shows a Muharram or Ashura procession in a UK city.
“There is no way Manchester has become like this,” said the caption.
Ashura, the 10th day of Muharram, is observed as a day of mourning by Shia Muslims with emotional processions. It commemorates the martyrdom of Imam Husayn ibn Ali, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and his companions at the Battle of Karbala in 680 CE.
Dominik Tarczyński, Polish Member of the European Parliament, and Lebanese-Australian influencer Mario Nawfal also reposted the claim.
“This is Manchester, where Andy Burnham (the man who wants to replace PM Starmer) is Mayor… Good luck Britain,” Nawfal wrote.
When Grok was asked to identify the city shown in the video, the chatbot said that the location was “almost certainly Birmingham, West Midlands”. ThePrint could not independently verify the location of the video.
Call for a new Crusade
While replies to Nawfal and RadioGenoa’s posts included people explaining Muharram and the procession, those under Musk’s post were replete with Islamophobia and fears of ‘colonisation’. Several memes called for a new Crusade.
I had a dream pic.twitter.com/LiUOIU9kcX
— Johnny Woker (@JohnnyDonie) June 23, 2026
Some accounts championed “remigration”, while others confused the origin of the video and called for ‘making America Islam-free’.
The recent posts and replies are part of a wider wave of Islamophobic posts on X and rising anti-immigration sentiment in the West. Right-wing members recently chanted “send them back” in the European Union Parliament, as the controversial ‘Return of Migrants’ law was passed.
The comment with the most likes and reshares featured Islam as the soldiers inside the Trojan Horse of diversity. The gates of Troy became the Western world, and the people bringing the horse inside were labelled Lefists.
Others pointed to a large gathering of Jewish men in New York.
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