British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that his government would take ‘all necessary action’ to end riots that followed a stabbing that killed three young girls. File Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI | License Photo
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Tuesday that his government would take “all necessary action” to end rioting in England and Northern Ireland after a man was seriously injured in the seventh night of unrest sparked by a stabbing rampage in the northern city of Southport in which three young girls were killed.
Starmer told cabinet members that “99.9% of people across the country want their streets to be safe.” Advertisement
“This is something no one would have ever wanted to see and we need to be calling it out for what it is,” he said. “It is not protest. It is violent disorder and needs to be treated as such, as criminal activity.”
Police said the incident during a violent disturbance overnight in south Belfast was a racially motivated hate crime with eyewitnesses telling them that the assailants stamped on the victim’s head. Advertisement
The man who is in his 50s is in hospital in a “serious” condition.
Gasoline bombs, masonry and bricks were hurled at the city’s police in a “sustained attack” over several hours which also saw a police Land Rover doused in gasoline and torched. Police fought back and fired plastic baton rounds, slightly injuring one rioter.
A 15-year-old boy is in police custody after being arrested on suspicion of rioting offenses.
Northern Ireland’s Communities Minister Gordon Lyons condemned Monday night’s violence saying it was completely unwarranted
“It needs to stop and it needs to stop straight away,” he said.
Similar events played out on the mainland in Darlington and Plymouth where the leader of the right-wing U.K. Independence Party Nick Tenconi joined an anti-migrant protest and filmed himself urging them in a stand-off with a counter-demonstration using a megaphone.
“Locals in Plymouth say enough is enough! UKIP leader Nick Tenconi joins patriots in Plymouth as they peacefully stand up to two-tier Keir’s [Prime Minister Keir Starmer] tyranny,” the party wrote on X, referring to claims authorities crack down hard on protests by the far right while leaving anti-racism and other leftist causes to their own devices.
“The people will not be ignored. The people demand change,” the post added. Advertisement
Police chiefs responded by announcing they were putting 2,200 more riot officers on the streets as they braced for further trouble with the number of protests being organized online rising from around six planned for Tuesday night to as many as 30 on Wednesday night, many of them anti-immigration and anti-asylum related.
Almost 4,000 riot police are already deployed across England and Wales, many of them drafted in as reinforcements to areas experiencing the most serious outbreaks of disorder.
Authorities have a further 11,800 specially trained public order or riot police they can draw on if necessary.
More than 400 people have been arrested since the trouble erupted July 30 when right-wing groups hijacked a vigil being held in Southport for the victims of a stabbing attack in which three girls aged 6,7 and 9 were killed and 10 others were injured at a dance studio.
The protests started after posts circulated online falsely claiming that the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Since then angry mobs of masked protesters have clashed with police nightly in cities from London and Bristol in the south to Tamworth, Birmingham Stoke-on-Trent in the midlands and Rotherham Manchester, Liverpool, Blackpool, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool in the north. Advertisement
In some places, protesters have laid siege to hotels housing asylum seekers, attempting to storm or set fire to the premises. Mosques and the homes and property of Muslim residents have also been targeted.
Violence has also flared between these protesters and rival groups coming out in support of migrants and minorities and, in some cases, gangs of Muslim youths incensed by the race-hate attacks and rhetoric.
The spreading unrest was also causing concern internationally with some countries issuing travel warnings to their citizens.
India became the latest Tuesday after the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia advised their citizens residing in or visiting the U.K. that parts of the country presented “serious safety risks.”
The UAE warned the security situation was “unstable” while Malaysia told its citizens not to travel to the U.K.
In a post on X, the Indian High Commission in London instructed visiting Indians to “state vigilant and exercise due caution while traveling in the U.K” and to “avoid areas where protests are underway.”