Prime Minister Keir Starmer has condemned attacks on hotels where asylum seekers are staying, calling them “far-right thugs” as violence breaks out in several towns across the UK.
In a statement from 10 Downing Street on Sunday afternoon, the Prime Minister vowed that “we will do everything we can to bring these thugs to justice” as he addressed the nation following ongoing unrest across the country.
Police in the northern England town of Rotherham struggled to stop a far-right thug trying to break into a hotel housing asylum seekers.
Police officers wearing shields tried to prevent rioters from entering the Holiday Inn with pieces of wood, chairs and fire extinguishers before bringing some kind of control to the unrest. A small fire could also be seen in a wheelie bin, while the hotel’s windows were smashed.
Police in the northern England town of Rotherham struggled to stop a far-right thug trying to break into a hotel housing asylum seekers.
Police officers wearing shields tried to prevent rioters from entering the Holiday Inn with pieces of wood, chairs and fire extinguishers before bringing some kind of control to the unrest. A small fire could also be seen in a wheelie bin, while the hotel’s windows were smashed.
A police helicopter circled overhead and at least one injured officer in riot gear was taken away as the atmosphere grew increasingly violent.
This is the latest round of riots in the UK following a riot. Knife attack in dance class Three girls were killed and several others injured in northern England last week.
Elsewhere, the atmosphere was particularly tense in the northeastern town of Middlesbrough, where some protesters broke away from police guards.
One group moved through residential areas, smashing the windows of houses and cars. When a resident asked why they broke a window, one man replied: “Because we are British.” Hundreds of people armed with shields confronted police at the town’s monument, throwing bricks, cans and pots at them.
More demonstrations are taking place across the UK, but mainly in England, where counter-demonstrators will also appear.
Far-right activists faced off against anti-racism protesters across Britain on Saturday, with scenes of violence unfolding from the Northern Ireland capital Belfast to Liverpool in northwest England and Bristol in the west. Police arrested about 100 people, but the number could be higher as police slew CCTV, social media and body camera footage.
Police have warned that extensive security measures, with thousands of officers deployed, mean other crimes may not be adequately investigated.
Tiffany Lynch of the Police Federation of England and Wales told the BBC: “We are seeing police officers being withdrawn from day-to-day policing. “But when that happens, those who are victims of crime are being targeted ) incident and unfortunately their crimes were not investigated.”
The violence that has swept the country over the past few days erupted after a stabbing attack in Southport on Monday. A 17-year-old man was arrested.
false rumors News circulated online that the suspects were Muslims and immigrants, sparking outrage among far-right supporters. In the UK, the names of suspects under 18 are not usually published, but Judge Andrew Menary ordered the identification of Axel Rudakubana, who was born in Wales to Rwandan parents. Axel Rudakubana, in part to stop the spread of misinformation. Rudacubana was charged with three counts of murder and 10 counts of attempted murder.
Police said many of the weekend’s actions were organized online by shadowy far-right groups, who used phrases such as “enough is enough”, “save our children” and “stop the boats” to mobilize support. They are exploiting concerns about the scale of immigration in the country, particularly the tens of thousands of migrants arriving across the English Channel from France in small boats.
Calls for protest came from dispersed social media accounts, but the key figure amplifying the protest was Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a long-time far-right agitator who used Tommy Robinson’s Tommy Robinson). He leads the England Defense League, which Merseyside Police have linked to violent protests in Southport on Tuesday, a day after the stabbing attack.
The group first emerged around 2009, leading a series of protests against what it called radical Islam, which often turned violent. Yaxley-Lennon was banned from Twitter in 2018 but was allowed back after Twitter was acquired by Elon Musk and renamed X. .
After a few years, the group’s membership and influence declined, and Yaxley-Lennon, 41, faced numerous legal problems. He is jailed for assault, contempt of court and mortgage fraud and currently faces an arrest warrant ahead of a scheduled hearing in contempt proceedings against him after leaving the UK last week.
Nigel Farage was first elected to Parliament in July british reform leaderMany are also blamed for indirectly encouraging the anti-immigration sentiment that has been evident over the past few days. While condemning the violence, he criticized the government for blaming it on “a few far-right thugs” and said “the far right is a reaction to fear… tens of millions of people share this fear.”
New UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer blames violence on ‘far-right hate’ Vow to end the chaos. He said police across the UK would be given more resources to stop the “breakdown of law and order on the streets”.
Police Minister Diana Johnson told the BBC there was “no need” to use the military to help police respond to the violence.