Faced with the worst riots in Britain in 13 years, Prime Minister Keir Starmer held a crisis meeting in Downing Street on Monday after a weekend of violence by far-right rioters targeting mosques and migrants.
A week after the knife attack that killed three girls in the northwest of England, the riots that followed, amid speculation about the suspect, have continued across much of the UK.
Hundreds of arrests after the scenes of the last few days: hotels housing asylum seekers ransacked, mosques attacked, shops looted…
After displaying great firmness, the Prime Minister called an emergency meeting, known as “Cobra”, with ministers and police representatives at his official residence in London.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday made it a priority to “promptly” convict rioters involved in the violence.
In front of British television, the head of the Labour government stressed that his “absolute” priority was to put an end to the disorder and that “criminal sanctions are swift”.
The leader vowed that his government would do “whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice as quickly as possible.”
Rumor denied
The riots broke out in Southport in the wake of the stabbing in the seaside town, amid unsubstantiated and partly since-debunked rumours about the religion and origins of the 17-year-old suspect, Axel Rudakubana, who has been charged with murder and attempted murder. Officially, he was only born in Wales, with media reports claiming his parents were from Rwanda.
After several days of clashes, particularly in Liverpool, Belfast and Bristol, these gatherings, with the slogan “Enough is enough” in reference to the arrival in the United Kingdom of migrants crossing the Channel on inflatable boats, were marked by violence against two hotels housing asylum seekers.
In Rotherham (north), more than 700 people, according to police, gathered, smashed windows of the establishment and started a fire, some shouting slogans such as “Kick them out”.
Twelve officers were injured and six people arrested, with South Yorkshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield saying the number of arrests would increase “sharply in the coming days”.
In Tamworth, near Birmingham, a hotel was targeted by attackers who “smashed windows, lit fires and targeted police”, according to the police.
The country has not seen such a surge since 2011, after the death of a young mixed-race man, Mark Duggan, by police in north London.
According to British media reports, more than 400 people have been arrested in the past week. Several were remanded in custody Monday morning when they appeared before judges.
Courts mobilized
“These offenders will pay the price,” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC.
“We have made sure that the courts are ready, that they have additional prosecutors available,” she added. “We expect that justice will be served quickly.”
The police have particularly pointed the finger at the English Defence League, a far-right group created 15 years ago and whose anti-immigration actions have often been marred by excesses.
Some commentators and politicians more generally believe that the rise of anti-immigration discourse in the political class has legitimised the protesters.
The UK has been faced in recent years with the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants each year by inflatable boats, which has made illegal arrivals particularly visible.
The accommodation of asylum seekers in government-paid hotels has sometimes created local tensions, with successive Conservative governments seeking to end the system but failing to do so.