UK Government Deploys 6,000 Specialist Police to Quell Far-Right Rioting
In the wake of a week of nightly riots in various English cities, the UK government has announced that 6,000 specialist police officers are ready to deal with the violence. The unrest began after three children were killed in a mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England.
On Monday, six people were arrested and several police officers injured when they were attacked by rioters hurling bricks and fireworks in Plymouth, southern England. In Belfast, Northern Ireland, officers were attacked as rioters attempted to set fire to a shop owned by a foreign national, with a man in his 30s seriously assaulted and the incident being treated as a racially motivated hate crime.
A group of men who gathered in Birmingham, central England, to counter a rumoured far-right demonstration, forced a Sky News reporter off air shouting "Free Palestine". She was then followed by a man in a balaclava holding a knife. Another reporter was chased by members of the group, while police reported incidents of criminal damage to a pub and a car.
Justice minister Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio 4 that the government had freed up an extra 500 prison places and drafted in 6,000 specialist police officers to deal with the violence. Prime Minister Keir Starmer again sought to reassure the nation that action was being taken, stating that "99.9% of people across the country want their streets to be safe and to feel safe in their communities, and we will take all necessary action to bring the disorder to an end."
The violence has been linked to false rumours spread on social media, which claimed the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. The suspect was later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales, with UK media reporting that his parents are from Rwanda. Despite this, mosques have been targeted by rioters, and the government has offered extra security to Islamic places of worship.
In Burnley, northwest England, a hate crime investigation is underway after gravestones in a Muslim section of a cemetery were vandalised with grey paint. Local councillor Afrasiab Anwar condemned the attack, saying, "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?"
The government, only one month old, has vowed to take a tough line on the unrest, with Prime Minister Starmer warning rioters that they would "regret" participating in England’s worst disorder in 13 years. Interior minister Yvette Cooper also warned that "there will be a reckoning", while Cooper added that social media had put a "rocket booster" under the violence. Starmer stressed that "criminal law applies online as well as offline", with arrests already being made in relation to posts made on Facebook and Snapchat.
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".
