British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said violent protesters who had targeted Muslim communities would swiftly face the “full force of the law” as he sought to quell days of anti-immigration rioting.
The fatal stabbing of three young girls in the northwest English town of Southport last week has been seized on by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups, with disinformation spread online and amplified by high-profile far-right figures to spark disorder in towns and cities.
“Whatever the apparent motivation, this is not protest, it is pure violence and we will not tolerate attacks on mosques or our Muslim communities,” Starmer said on Monday after an emergency meeting with police and prison chiefs.
“The full force of law will be visited on all those who are identified as having taken part.”
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Police chiefs said they had arrested 378 people since the start of the unrest and warned of “lengthy prison terms” for those found guilty of violent disorder.
The violence erupted last Tuesday after social media posts said the suspected attacker in Southport was a radical Islamist who had just arrived in Britain and was known to intelligence services.
Police say the 17-year-old suspect was born in Britain and they are not treating it as a terrorist incident. The suspect’s parents had moved to Britain from Rwanda.
Interior minister Yvette Cooper said rioters had felt “emboldened … to stir up racial hatred” and that the protests were not a proportionate response to concerns about near-record levels of immigration.
Protests, mostly involving a few hundred people, have continued across the country, with shops looted and mosques and Asian-owned businesses attacked. Cars have been set on fire and some unverified videos on social media have shown ethnic minorities being beaten up. (Reuters)
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