- The justice system will be intensified to manage hundreds of arrests following violent disorder in cities.
- Starmer attributed the lawlessness to far-right activists and misinformation on social media.
- The attack on two hotels housing asylum seekers left three girls dead and many more wounded.
On Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to establish a “standing army” of specialist police to address rioting. He also stated that the justice system would be intensified to manage hundreds of arrests following the violent disorder that has troubled cities across the nation over the past week.
Starmer convened an urgent meeting in response to the lawlessness he attributed to far-right activists and misinformation on social media. This misinformation, which falsely claimed that the suspect in a stabbing rampage at a dance class was a Muslim and an asylum-seeker, fueled attacks on immigrants and Muslims. The attack, which left three girls dead and many more wounded, sparked widespread anger.
“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. “The full force of the law will be visited on all those who are identified as having taken part in these activities.”
On Sunday, angry mobs attacked two hotels housing asylum seekers, breaking windows and setting fires before police dispersed the crowds and evacuated residents. Over the past six days, dozens of police officers have been hospitalized after being struck with bricks, bottles, and large wooden posts. Oliver Coppard, the mayor of South Yorkshire, where one of the hotels was targeted, attributed the violence to “far-right thugs.”
“As Keir said, as every decent person has said, I think these are far-right thugs who attacked some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and there is no excuse,” Coppard told the BBC. “There can never be any excuse for trying to burn to death 200 of the most vulnerable people in our community.”
A spokesperson for Starmer stated that no requests have been made to call in the army. The Home Office, responsible for law and order, has introduced a new “rapid response process” to provide mosques with greater protection and quickly address the threat of further attacks on places of worship.
After the meeting, Starmer’s spokesperson said that social media companies have not done enough to prevent the spread of misinformation fueling far-right violence. The spokesperson vowed that anyone who incites disorder—whether online or on the streets—could face prison. Some of this false and misleading information has originated from foreign states.
“The disinformation that we’ve seen online attracts amplification from known bot activity, which, as I say, can be linked to state-backed activity,” the spokesperson said in a read-out of the meeting.
