(London) The British government on Monday welcomed a “de-escalation” observed over the weekend after the far-right riots that shook the country for a week, but assured that it remained “on alert”.
“We welcome the de-escalation that has taken place over the weekend,” said a spokeswoman for Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer, adding that “Labour will not [serait] not finished until people [sentiraient] not safe”.
“We do not want to be satisfied” with this return to calm over the last few days, “and we remain on alert,” she added to journalists.
On Saturday, thousands of Britons took part in new anti-racist rallies in several cities to denounce the xenophobic and Islamophobic violence of the previous week.
PHOTO ALBERTO PEZZALI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
A protester holds a placard reading “Refugees Welcome” during a rally outside the Reform UK party offices on August 10 in London.
The riots, the worst in the UK since 2011, targeted mosques and migrant accommodation centres.
They broke out following the knife attack that cost the lives of three young girls on July 29 in Southport (North West England), fueled by rumors since partially denied about the nationality of the suspect, a 17-year-old teenager, on social networks.
The last major clashes between police and rioters took place last Monday in England, a lull that the authorities put down to the very firm judicial response of the new Labour government, in power since the beginning of July in the United Kingdom.
PHOTO HOLLIE ADAMS, REUTERS ARCHIVES
A police officer chases a young man during an anti-immigration protest in Rotherham on August 4.
Downing Street on Monday welcomed this “rapid response by the justice system”, which made it possible “in the space of a few days to arrest, charge, convict and imprison criminals”.
In total, more than 700 arrests, 300 indictments and first prison sentences for rioters or online posts stirring up violence took place in the following days.