On Tuesday, the UK government announced that it had mobilized 6,000 specialist police officers to address far-right rioting that erupted after the tragic murder of three children, which sparked a week of unrest.
On Monday, violence escalated in Plymouth, southern England, where six people were arrested and several officers were injured by rioters who threw bricks and fireworks.
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, rioters targeted a shop owned by a foreign national, resulting in a serious assault on a man in his 30s.
Authorities are investigating the attack as a racially motivated hate crime.
In Birmingham, central England, a group of men gathered to counter a rumored far-right demonstration disrupted a Sky News broadcast, chanting “Free Palestine” and intimidating the reporter, who was later followed by a man in a balaclava with a knife.
Another reporter was pursued by members of the group with what appeared to be a weapon. Additionally, there were reports of criminal damage to a pub and a car.
The unrest began last Tuesday following a stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England, which resulted in the deaths of three children.
Riots have since spread across various cities and towns, leading to hundreds of arrests.
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander informed BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday that the government has added 500 prison places and deployed 6,000 specialist officers to manage the ongoing violence.
“We will make sure that anyone who is given a custodial sentence as a result of the riots and disorder, there will be a prison place waiting for them,” she said.
– False rumours –
Mobs threw bricks and flares, attacked police, burnt and looted shops, smashed the windows of cars and homes and targeted at least two hotels housing asylum seekers in a number of cities at the weekend.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday convened and emergency meeting of ministers and police chiefs to discuss the unrest.
The government will “ramp up criminal justice” to ensure that “sanctions are swift”, Starmer told the media after Monday’s meeting.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said 378 people had so far been arrested and that others would be “brought to justice”.
Clashes broke out in Southport on Wednesday, the day after three young girls were killed and five more children critically injured during the knife attack there.
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False rumours initially spread on social media saying the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.
The suspect was later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales. UK media reported that his parents are from Rwanda, which has very few Muslims.
That has not stopped mosques from being targeted by rioters.
The government has offered new emergency security to Islamic places of worship.
In Burnley, northwest England, a hate crime investigation was underway after gravestones in a Muslim section of a cemetery were vandalised with grey paint.
“What type of evil individual(s) would undertake such outrageous actions, in a sacrosanct place of reflection, where loved ones are buried, solely intended to provoke racial tensions?”, local councillor Afrasiab Anwar said.
The prime minister warned rioters on Sunday that they would “regret” participating in England’s worst disorder in 13 years.
Interior minister Yvette Cooper told the BBC on Monday that “there will be a reckoning”.
Cooper also said that social media put a “rocket booster” under the violence.
Starmer stressed that “criminal law applies online as well as offline”.
On Tuesday, Alexander criticised Elon Musk, owner of X, after he claimed “civil war” in the UK was “inevitable”.
“I think it is deeply irresponsible. I think everyone should be appealing for calm,” she said.
Police have blamed the violence on people associated with the now-defunct English Defence League, a far-right Islamophobic organisation founded 15 years ago, whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism.
The rallies have been advertised on far-right social media channels under the banner “Enough is enough”.
