UK PM vows to stop far-right riots

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer vowed on Thursday not to ease efforts to prevent further far-right riots in English towns and cities, following a night of anticipated street violence that failed to materialise.

Despite a largely peaceful Wednesday evening, Starmer announced he would chair another emergency meeting of senior ministers and police leaders later on Thursday to prepare for potential unrest in “the coming days.”

He also noted that the criminal justice system would continue “working speedily” to convict those already arrested during a week of near-nightly riots across England and Northern Ireland.

A judge in Liverpool, northeast England, has sentenced several more participants in the violence, which has seen mosques and migrant-related facilities attacked alongside police and other targets.

“It’s important that we don’t let up here,” Starmer told media outlets as he visited a mosque and met community leaders in Solihull, western England.

“That’s why later today, I’ll have another meeting with law enforcement and senior police officers to reflect on last night and plan for the coming days.”

Starmer credited “police deployed in numbers in the right places, giving reassurance to communities” with helping to ease the unrest overnight.

Instead of the rumoured far-right gatherings at numerous sites linked to immigrant support services, thousands of anti-racism and anti-fascism protesters took to the streets.

They gathered in significant numbers, holding rallies in cities including London, Birmingham, Bristol, Liverpool, and Newcastle.

“Whose streets? Our streets!” thousands chanted in Walthamstow, northeast London, where hundreds of pro-Palestine supporters joined the rally under a heavy police presence.

However, Northern Ireland experienced another night of disturbances—its fourth in a row. There were five arrests, and a police officer was injured during the disorder in Belfast.

The UK government had placed 6,000 specialist police on standby across England to address potential flashpoints after far-right social media channels called for attacks on immigration-linked sites.

The violence has been fuelled by misinformation spread on social media about the suspected perpetrator of a knife attack on July 29, which killed three children.

London’s Metropolitan Police chief, Mark Rowley, who deployed thousands of officers onto the streets of the capital on Wednesday, said he was “really pleased” with how the police and local communities had responded to the riots.

“I think the show of force from the police—and, frankly, the show of unity from communities—defeated the challenges we’ve seen,” he told UK broadcasters.

Rowley noted that while there had been a small number of arrests due to “some local criminals” engaging in anti-social behaviour, fears of “extreme-right disorder were abated.”

‘Sowing Hatred’

On Thursday, London Mayor Sadiq Khan thanked the “heroic police force working round the clock” and “those who came out peacefully to show London stands united against racism and Islamophobia.”

“And to those far-right thugs still intent on sowing hatred and division: you will never be welcome here,” he added on X.

Courts began on Wednesday to issue jail terms for offenders linked to the unrest as authorities sought to deter further disorder.

The unrest, Britain’s worst since the 2011 London riots, has led to hundreds of arrests and at least 120 charges and prompted several countries to issue travel warnings for the UK.

London police said on Thursday that officers had made 10 further arrests overnight, a week after protests outside Downing Street in Westminster turned violent.

Rowley, who joined the dawn raids, said those arrested “aren’t protestors, patriots, or decent citizens.”

“They’re thugs and criminals,” he noted, adding that most had previous convictions for weapon possession, violence, drugs, and other serious offences.

The riots erupted after three girls—aged nine, seven, and six—were killed and five more children critically injured during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England.

False rumours spread on social media claimed the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker.

The suspect was later identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales. UK media reports that his parents are from Rwanda, which is overwhelmingly Christian.

AFP