Britain prepares for further unrest: thousands of riot police in action

Britain prepares for further unrest: thousands of riot police in action

LONDON, August 7, 2024 (BSS/AFP) – Thousands of riot police were on standby on Wednesday as
The UK remains on high alert due to unrest amid far-right protests across the country.

Following the murder of three children on July 29, night-time riots broke out, with mosques and migrant targets being attacked.

Police said they were investigating several racially motivated hate crimes in Belfast on Tuesday, including an attack on a young boy who suffered minor facial injuries.

And right-wing extremist groups are planning demonstrations in more than 30 locations for Wednesday.
According to posts on the messaging app Telegram leaked to British media, immigration lawyers and buildings housing asylum seekers are the main targets.

The government announced that 6,000 special police officers were on standby to contain the unrest. According to the latest police figures, more than 425 people have been arrested and at least 120 have been charged.

The violence broke out after girls aged nine, seven and six were killed and five other children were seriously injured in a knife attack during a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport, northwest England.

False rumors initially spread on social media that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.

The suspect was later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Wales. British media reported that his parents are from Rwanda.

Despite the police statement, riots initially broke out around a mosque in Southport, and widespread violence has since broken out in England and Northern Ireland.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned late Tuesday that all those involved would face “the full force of the law”, including those who incite violence online.

Starmer, a former attorney general, said he expected “a substantive conviction” of the rioters “before the end of this week.”

“This should send a very strong message to everyone involved, whether in person or online,” he added in televised comments.

The unrest, the worst in Britain since the London riots in 2011, has prompted a number of countries to warn their citizens against travelling within the UK.

– Musk dispute –

In unrest in several cities, protesters threw bricks and flares at police, set cars on fire and attacked mosques and at least two hotels used for asylum seekers.

Numerous suspected perpetrators were brought to court on Tuesday, some of them pleaded guilty.

A 19-year-old man was the first person to receive a prison sentence for the unrest: he was sentenced to two months in prison, PA Media reported.

Another man was sentenced after admitting attacking a police officer outside a hotel for asylum seekers in Rotherham, northern England, on Sunday.

A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty to violent disorder in Liverpool on Saturday after being identified from a TikTok video, while a man in Leeds admitted posting threats on Facebook to incite racial hatred.

The government, which is only a month old, has announced that it will take a tough stance against the unrest.

Starmer said: “99.9 percent of people across the country want their streets to be safe and to feel safe in their communities. We will take all necessary action to bring an end to the unrest.”

Justice Minister Heidi Alexander told BBC radio that the government had released 500 additional prison places.

The police blame the unrest on people associated with the now-defunct English Defence League (EDL), a right-wing extremist, anti-Islam organisation founded 15 years ago and whose supporters are associated with football hooliganism.

Authorities accuse EDL founder Tommy Robinson of stoking tensions. Police in Cyprus, where he was reportedly on holiday, said on Wednesday they were ready to assist British police if needed.

However, Robinson later wrote on the social media platform X: “Fortunately, I’m not in Cyprus then.”

The rallies were advertised on right-wing extremist social media channels under the slogan “Enough is enough.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said social media had given the violence a “rocket boost”.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk escalated a dispute with the British government on Tuesday by comparing Britain to “the Soviet Union”. A spokesman for Starmer had said there was “no justification” for Musk’s earlier comment that a British “civil war was inevitable”.