UK rioters warned to stay away
ENGLISH police forces deployed extra officers and said they were ready to arrest hundreds more farright activists if they followed through with plans circulated online to attack immigration centers today.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also hold another emergency security meeting with senior ministers and police chiefs today. The premier said this week authorities had agreed to mobilise a ‘‘standing army’’ of officers to deal with the antimigrant and antiMuslim disorder, which has raged in Britain over the past week.
‘‘This country is faced with one of the worst spates of violent disorder in the last decade,’’ the Metropolitan Police’s Deputy Assistant Commissioner Andy Valentine said.
‘‘This is a national critical incident and we will do everything in our power to protect London and its communities.’’ Bloomberg reported earlier a message being shared by farright activists on the Telegram platform calling for demonstrations at about 30 refugee and immigration centres and law firms representing asylum seekers today. The posts urged activists to ‘‘mask up’’.
The campaign group Tell Mama, which documents antiMuslim incidents, said it had alerted the police to the posts. Nottinghamshire Police said an address included on the list had no links to ‘‘any immigration business’’, contradicting the claims of activists.
‘‘Officers have visited the address and it is home to an elderly person with vulnerabilities.’’
About 100 people involved in violent disorder have already been charged, the Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday, adding that it was ‘‘working around the clock’’ to ‘‘charge people as quickly as possible and ensure justice is served’’.
The recent disorder has been fueled by online misinformation since an attack a week ago left three young girls dead in Southport, northwest England.
Farright activists falsely claimed the suspect was a
Muslim asylumseeker in an effort to stoke antiimmigrant and Islamophobic sentiment.
There appears to be no formal leadership structure orchestrating the violence, and farright activists have mobilised online using X and Telegram to call for protests.
Prominent figures have been accused of stoking unrest, including Stephen YaxleyLennon, known as Tommy Robinson, and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
‘‘We will not tolerate this on our streets,’’ Valentine said. — TCA