Police have been warned that some homes may be attacked on Wednesday as far-right activists plan to target migrant-friendly law offices that are based at residential addresses, in an escalation of the riots gripping the UK.
Authorities are braced for a significant increase in violence after a message shared across far-right activist groups listed 36 targets that included immigration centres, law offices specialising in helping migrants, and refugee shelters.
The British home office has circulated the list, seen by the Financial Times, to police forces after identifying residential houses among the locations.
Some of the targets may represent individual solicitors working out of residential properties, and one of the addresses sits between a bridal shop and an optician, according to a person briefed on the situation.
Extra policing support has been offered to at least some of the targeted locations on the list, while several centres have temporarily closed their offices in response to the threat.
British prime minister Keir Starmer convened a second Cobra crisis response meeting in as many days on Tuesday, as police braced for an eighth night of violence and further trouble on Wednesday sparked by the Southport mass stabbing last week.
Earlier on Tuesday, the prime minister called an emergency cabinet meeting, where he vowed to take “all necessary action” to end unrest that has spread across England and Northern Ireland in the past week.
The Metropolitan police warned that the country was facing “one of the worst spates of violent disorder in the last decade”. Deputy assistant commissioner Andy Valentine, who is in charge of the policing operation, declared the unrest a “national critical incident” and said Britain’s biggest force would “do everything in our power to protect London and its communities”.
The home office said: “We utterly condemn the recent public disorder targeting asylum seekers, immigration lawyers, our staff and buildings.
“Anyone taking part in this criminal activity, online or on our streets, will face the full force of the law.”
Brian Booth, acting national deputy chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW), which represents officers, said police needed more resources to buy anti-riot gear to help protect officers.
Rubber bullets, he said, cost about £25 a round and it costs £1,000 a year to train an officer in their use before deployment. But injured officers, especially those who are forced into retirement, ultimately cost far more, he said.
“They [rubber bullets] do come at a cost, but they are a great deterrent,” Mr Booth said.
“They used them in Northern Ireland the other day. If they are using them there, why are we not using them on the mainland to keep our officers safe?”
Mr Booth said rubber bullets and CS tear gas canisters should be an option for officers facing the worst violence, but the “necessary equipment” might also include water cannons, which have never been used in England.
More than 100 officers have been injured, some seriously, in the past week, a figure that could rise by Wednesday when the federation expects to have received the latest information from branches around the country.
The Crown Prosecution Service, the public prosecutor for England and Wales, confirmed that the first charge of using threatening words or behaviour to stir up racial hatred online had been made in relation to the violent disorder.
A 28-year-old man from Leeds indicated a plea of guilty to the charge, which related to a series of Facebook posts linked to the disorder.
Justice minister Heidi Alexander told the LBC radio station that courts could begin sitting “through the evening, the night, at weekends” to expedite the prosecution of rioters.
Stephen Parkinson, director of public prosecutions, told the BBC that prosecutors were “willing to look at terrorism offences” and said he was “aware of at least one instance where that is happening”.
Ahead of demonstrations planned for Wednesday, hotels housing asylum seekers in Rotherham and Tamworth – which were attacked over the weekend – have been evacuated.
Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council charity, urged the authorities to “take every step to ensure all asylum accommodation” remained safe from “appalling attacks”. He also called for an urgent review to examine how rioters had been able to get into the Rotherham hotel.
As the disorder enters its second week, police officers have been told to cancel rest days, restrict their leave and work longer hours to respond to often unpredictable outbursts of violence.
Former chief inspector of constabulary Tom Winsor warned that forces were “already stretched” and that day-to-day policing would “suffer” as a result of the riots.
“When these officers are deployed in dealing with riots, then they’re not investigating burglaries or violence or all the other things police have to do,” he told the BBC.
Refugee rights activists are concerned that police resources will be spread too thinly and that asylum seekers remain under serious threat.
“All hotels that have been targeted should immediately be evacuated,” said Maddie Harris, director and founder of the Humans for Rights Network, a charity supporting refugees. “The government needs to map where is likely to be next and come up with a plan to keep people safe.”
– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024