UK, Musk in war of words after ‘civil war is inevitable’ post
6,000 specialist police officers stand ready to quell UK riots
Keir Starmer’s dispute with Elon Musk has escalated, with the social media baron dubbing the British Prime Minister ‘two-tier Keir’ in a series of new tweets, just a day after claiming that ‘civil war is inevitable’ in the UK following far-right riots in several cities.
Musk’s posts on X that he owns were in response to a video showing footage of rioting and remarks from another poster that it was the result of “migration and open borders.”
“There’s no justification for comments like that,” Starmer’s spokesman, Dave Pares, said on Monday.
Bot activity
Pares also said that events over the weekend — which included attacks on at least two hotels housing immigrants — require an “immediate response” from social media companies, after online forums were used to spread misinformation and organise anti-immigration protests. He added that “state actors” may have been involved in “bot activity” used to propagate the posts.
“Anyone who stokes this violence whether on the internet or in person can be prosecuted and face prison,” Pares said.
In his tweet yesterday, Musk called the prime minister “two-tier Keir” in reference to the conspiracy theory that police are treating white far-right “protesters” more harshly than minority groups.
He tagged Keir in several tweets, writing “Why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?” and “#TwoTierKeir”.
The unrest poses a major early challenge for Starmer’s month-old government which yesterday said 6,000 specialist police officers were ready to deal with rioting.
The UK government said yesterday that 6,000 specialist police officers were ready to deal with far-right rioting that broke out following the murder of three children, triggering a week of violence.
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.
Officers in Belfast, Northern Ireland, were attacked as rioters attempted to set fire to a shop owned by a foreign national. Police said a man in his 30s was seriously assaulted during the disorder and that they are treating the incident as a racially motivated hate crime.
Meanwhile, 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 said he was chased by members of the group “with what looked like a weapon”, while police said there had also been incidents of criminal damage to a pub and a car.
Mobs threw bricks and flares, attacked police, burnt and looted shops, smashed the windows of cars and homes and targeted at least two hotels housing asylum seekers in a number of cities at the weekend.
Riots in several cities
The unrest broke out last Tuesday after three children were killed in a stabbing spree at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England. Riots have since flared up in several cities and towns, leading to hundreds of arrests.
Justice minister Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio 4 on Tuesday that the government had freed up an extra 500 prison places and drafted in 6,000 specialist police officers to deal with the ongoing violence.
“We will make sure that anyone who is given a custodial sentence as a result of the riots and disorder, there will be a prison place waiting for them,” she said.
False rumours
Mobs threw bricks and flares, attacked police, burnt and looted shops, smashed the windows of cars and homes and targeted at least two hotels housing asylum seekers in a number of cities at the weekend. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday convened an emergency meeting of ministers and police chiefs to discuss the unrest.
The government will “ramp up criminal justice” to ensure that “sanctions are swift”, Starmer told the media after Monday’s meeting.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said 378 people had so far been arrested and that others would be “brought to justice”. Clashes broke out in Southport on Wednesday, the day after three young girls were killed and five more children critically injured during the knife attack there.
False rumours initially spread on social media saying the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker. The suspect was later identified as 17-yearold Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales. UK media reported that his parents are from Rwanda, which has very few Muslims.
Yesterday, Alexander criticised Elon Musk, owner of X, after he claimed “civil war” in the UK was “inevitable”.
“I think it is deeply irresponsible. I think everyone should be appealing for calm,” she said.