British Prime Minister wants to tighten the screws on far-right rioters

Photo: Owen Humphreys Associated Press A car burns during an anti-immigration protest in Middlesbrough, England, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024.

Sylvain Peuchmaurd – Agence France-Presse in LondonAgence France-Presse

Published at 8:49 a.m. Updated at 8:15 p.m.

• Europe

With “swift” convictions and the dispatch of specialist police, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has promised a tough response to put a stop to far-right violence that spread across the UK over the weekend and led to further incidents on Monday evening.

A week after the knife attack that killed three young girls in the northwest of England, amid speculation about the suspect’s origins, the country is facing its worst riots in 13 years.

In recent days, hotels housing asylum seekers and mosques have been targeted, and businesses have been looted.

While not on the same scale as the weekend’s incidents, Monday evening was nonetheless marred by incidents.

In Plymouth (southwest), from where Sky News broadcast live footage of a tense standoff between the far right and counter-protesters, separated by police on either side of a road, punctuated by the throwing of projectiles.

Local police reported violence against law enforcement officers, including damage to a van.

“Arrests are underway,” local police said on that one of his vehicles was attacked by a man brandishing a knife in Birmingham (center), where a crowd of Muslim men gathered saying they were “ready” to defend the street after rumors about the holding of 'a far-right gathering.

The police have made more than 378 arrests since the start of the clashes, according to the NPCC, an organization which brings together the leaders of the different forces police across the country.

After a crisis meeting in Downing Street, the Labour leader announced the mobilisation of a reserve “army” of specialist police to deal with the clashes, without giving further details.

In power for a month, Keir Starmer stressed that his “absolute” priority was to end the disorder and ensure “swift criminal sanctions” and to “make the streets safe for the public” after the weekend’s clashes.

In a stark contrast to the images of violence in recent days, a tribute to the three girls killed a week ago was held early Monday evening in Southport, attended by a crowd of children blowing bubbles to the sound of soft music.

The riots broke out in Southport the day after the stabbing in the seaside town, following unsubstantiated and partly denied rumours about the religion and ethnicity of 17-year-old suspect Axel Rudakubana, who has been charged with murder and attempted murder. Officially, we only know that he was born in Wales, with the media claiming that his parents are from Rwanda.

Anti-immigration speech

After several days of clashes, particularly in Liverpool and Belfast (Northern Ireland) — where the local parliament was recalled during the week — and Bristol, these rallies, 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, 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 police officers were injured.

In Tamworth, near Birmingham, a hotel was targeted by attackers who in particular “smashed windows, lit fires and targeted the police”, according to the latter.

The country had not seen such an outbreak since 2011, after the death of a young mixed-race man, Mark Duggan, killed by the police in north London.

The police pointed the finger at the responsibility of the English Defence League, a far-right group created 15 years ago, which has formally ceased to exist but whose network remains active and whose anti-immigration actions have often been punctuated by excesses.

Some commentators and politicians more generally believe that the rise of an anti-immigration discourse in the political class has emboldened the protesters.

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