UK: Attacks on migrant hotels, Prime Minister vows to punish

Riots of unprecedented violence in more than a decade continued in the United Kingdom on Sunday , where at least two hotels housing asylum seekers have been targeted, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer promising that anti-migrant and Islamophobic rioters would regret their actions.

The riots began after three girls were killed in a knife attack in Southport, northwest England, on Monday, a tragedy that sparked widespread rumors and misinformation on social media about the alleged attacker's religion and origins.

“I guarantee you will regret having participated in this disorder,” whether directly or indirectly, “by provoking these online actions,” said the head of the Labor government, who came to power just a month ago, in a short statement from Downing Street.

Keir Starmer has vowed his government will do “whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice as quickly as possible”.

He was speaking after further rallies took place on Sunday calling for “Enough is enough”, a reference to migrants arriving in the UK crossing the Channel in rubber dinghies.

Police said they had made nearly 150 arrests since Saturday.

In Tamworth, near Birmingham (central), local police said they intervened on Sunday evening near a hotel, targeted by a “large group of individuals”. They “threw projectiles, broke windows, lit fires and targeted the police” and one officer was injured, they detailed.

A little earlier in Rotherham, in the North, several hundred people gathered in front of a hotel housing asylum seekers and clashes broke out with the police.

At least ten police officers were injured, but no hotel staff or guests, local police said.

Some participants broke windows of the establishment, started a fire, threw projectiles at the police, while others shouted slogans like “Kick them out”.

Some managed to enter the hotel, although it was not immediately clear whether asylum seekers were inside that day.

– Fourth day of violence –

Interior Minister Yvette Cooper described these acts on X as “absolutely appalling”.

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Opponents of the “Enough is enough” demonstrations in Bristol, United Kingdom, on August 3, 2024 © AFP – JUSTIN TALLIS

In Middlesbrough (northeast), there were also disturbances in the city center. An AFP crew had its camera broken by protesters.

Jamie Atkinson, 34, assured AFP that he had “nothing to do with the far right” and was there for “the little girls” killed in Southport and to ask that we “stop people we know nothing about from coming to us”, in reference to migrants arriving in the United Kingdom.

Other demonstrations took place across the country, in Aldershot (south-west), Bolton (north) and Weymouth (south), in a generally tense climate.

This is the fourth day of violence in the UK since the murder of the three girls. Riots and clashes between police, protesters and sometimes anti-racist counter-protesters took place in a dozen cities, including Liverpool (north-west), Hull (north-east), Belfast (Northern Ireland), Leeds (north), Sunderland (north-east) and Southport on Tuesday, where a mosque was targeted.

The suspect in the three murders, a 17-year-old boy, has been charged and taken into custody.

On Sunday, religious leaders in Liverpool representing different faiths published a statement calling for unity.

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

– Protected Mosques –

Since Monday, Keir Starmer has been issuing a series of messages of firmness and support for the police against what he once again described on Sunday as “far-right violence”.

“If you target people because of the colour of their skin or their religion, that's far-right,” he insisted.

The government has announced that it will increase police protection for mosques.

Protesters arrested by police in Nottingham, UK, on ​​August 3, 2024 © AFP – Darren Staples

Some commentators and politicians have argued that the rise of anti-immigration rhetoric in the political class has legitimised the protesters.

In the last general election, the anti-immigration party Reform UK garnered more than 14% of the vote voice.

For the co-president of the Green Party, Carla Denyer, this violence must serve as “a warning signal for all political leaders” who have used anti-immigration rhetoric.

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