Finsbury Park Attack: JK Rowling criticises newspaper’s headline

LONDON: Following the Finsbury Park Mosque attack, many celebrities took to social media to condemn the incident. JK Rowling, who does not shy away from expressing her opinion on Twitter, lashed out at a British newspaper’s response to the attack.

After the evening prayers on Sunday, a van drove into pedestrians outside the Finsbury Park Mosque, killing one man and leaving ten injured, all who were Muslims. Rowling responded to the event by tweeting a screenshot from the headline of a Daily Mail article which had referred to the aggressor, later identified as Darren Osbourne, as a “white van driver”.

The Mail has misspelled 'terrorist' as 'white van driver.' Now let's discuss how he was radicalised. 

— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) June 19, 2017

However, Rowling backtracked and removed the tweet, justifying that as “many rightly pointed out” the headline had been written before charges had been levied against the attacker. “I was angry at what I saw as victim blaming in their immediate coverage," she added on Twitter.

She further criticised the Daily Mail for rushing to a judgement without knowing the facts. However, after Rowling’s first tweet, the newspaper soon revised their headline and has now called the suspect a “terror attacker”.

Rowling later focused on how the incident was radicalised and went onto share a collage of British tabloid headlines portraying Muslims in a negative light.

By this she pointed a finger towards the media and public alike who treat terror attacks carried out by Muslims differently than those carried out by followers of another religion.

The episode, which has left the country in a rage, is now being investigated and has been referred to as a “terror attack” by British Prime Minister Theresa May.