British prime minister Keir Starmer has called an emergency security meeting today in a bid to quell far-right, anti-immigrant violence that has rocked communities across the United Kingdom.
Violence erupted in towns and cities including Rotherham, Blackpool and Bristol over the weekend. The disorder has been fuelled by an online misinformation campaign since an attack a week ago left three young girls dead. The far right falsely accused the suspect of being a Muslim migrant to stoke anti-immigrant and Islamophobic sentiment.
Speaking from Downing Street, Mr Starmer described the riots as “far-right thuggery” and said those who took part will face “the full force of the law.”
The prime minister will today hold an emergency Cobra meeting with senior ministers and police chiefs, according to a government official.
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The prime minster is preparing emergency court sittings, getting prosecutors to work longer hours and weekends to process cases, and the redeployment of police if necessary.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced additional measures to protect the mosques and pledged “full backing” for the police in dealing with the unrest. “Anyone who gets involved in criminal disorder and violent thuggery on our streets will have to pay the price,” she said in a video posted to X.
In Rotherham, South Yorkshire, rioters on Sunday attacked a hotel housing asylum seekers and started a fire, injuring around a dozen police officers. Around 150 arrests have been made in England’s worst rioting in over a decade.
About 700 people gathered outside the Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham, before clashing with police. Some rioters hurled pieces of wood, bottles and chairs, and sprayed fire extinguishers at police officers.
South Yorkshire police said at least 10 officers had been injured, including one who was left unconscious with a head injury.
Footage from the scene showed a bin on fire and people, some draped in St George and union flags, chanting: “Get them out.” The demonstrators appeared at one point to storm into the hotel, with reports of a fire inside, and people peering out of windows.
Protests at the Holiday Inn Express began at midday, immediately turning into a riot when a mob of far-right individuals, mostly men, smashed windows and set a stairwell in the building alight, temporarily overwhelming police.
Shabnam Shabir, who came as part of a group of counter-protesters, said she had been left traumatised after her group was surrounded by the mob, who chanted racist words. “It was a lot of angry, angry, angry far right,” she said. “This is very scary.”
She was left stranded in her car outside the hotel, unable to leave until the rioters did. “And we have people inside of the hotel who are scared for their lives so it’s terrifying.”
Tensions have been rising since the stabbing attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in Southport, near Liverpool, on July 29th. Police have said the suspect, Axel Rudakubana (17) was born in Britain in an attempt to counter false claims spread on social media that he was a Muslim migrant.
Around 300 people were involved in disturbances in the Walton area of Liverpool on Saturday night, according to Merseyside Police. The force, also responsible for Southport, said that a local convenience store was set on fire and that a library was damaged, while firefighters who attended to the scene had a missile thrown at their vehicle.
In Hull, demonstrators gathered outside a hotel that houses asylum seekers, a number of windows were smashed and bottles thrown. In videos uploaded to social media many of the protesters can be heard chanting “stop the boats,” a reference to crossings made from the European Continent by migrants attempting to get to Britain.
Many police forces across the country have issued so-called dispersal orders to try to break up and deter rioters. There were also disturbances in Leicester, Stoke-on Trent, Nottingham, Manchester and Middlesbrough, as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland. – Agencies