The British government said on Tuesday that 6,000 specialist police are on standby to tackle far-right riots after another night of destructive disorder in English cities.
There have been nightly riots in various cities for a week since three children were killed in a gang stabbing.
Six people were arrested and several police officers were injured on Monday as rioters hurled bricks and fireworks in Plymouth, southern England.
Police were attacked in Belfast, Northern Ireland, as rioters attempted to set fire to a shop owned by a foreign national. Police said a man in his 30s was seriously assaulted and they are treating the incident as a racially motivated hate crime.
In Birmingham, central England, a Sky News reporter was chased off the air by a man wearing a balaclava holding a knife after a group of people gathered to protest a far-right demonstration shouting “Free Palestine” – according to a rumour.
Another journalist reported that members of the group chased them “with something that looked like a weapon”, while police said there were also incidents of criminal damage to a pub and a car.
The unrest came after three children were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, northwest England, last Tuesday.
Hundreds of arrests have been made in connection with the riots that have erupted since then.
Justice Minister Heidi Alexander told BBC Radio 4 the Government had freed up 500 extra prison places and deployed 6,000 specialist police officers to tackle the violence.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer again sought to reassure the nation that action was being taken.
He said after a cabinet meeting: “99.9% of people across the country want their streets to be safe and to feel safe in their communities, and we will take all the action necessary to end this chaos.”
False rumors
Mobs threw bricks and flares, attacked police, burned and looted shops, smashed windows of cars and homes and targeted at least two hotels housing refugees over the weekend.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) said on Monday that 378 people had been arrested so far.
The clashes in Southport came on a day when three young women were killed and five other children were seriously injured in a knife attack.
Initially, false rumours spread on social media that the attacker was a Muslim refugee.
The suspect was later identified as Axel Rudakubana, 17, born in Wales. His parents are from Rwanda, U.K. media reported.
This has not prevented mosques from being targeted by rioters and the government has provided additional security to Islamic places of worship.
A hate crime was under investigation in Burnley, northwest England, in which tombstones in the Muslim part of a cemetery were vandalised with grey paint.
Local councillor Afrasiab Anwar said: “What kind of evil person would commit such a derogatory act at this sacred place where loved ones are buried, with the sole purpose of inciting racial tensions?”
The government, barely a month old, has vowed to take a tough stance on the unrest.
The prime minister warned rioters on Sunday that they would “regret” taking part in the worst chaos England has seen in 13 years.
“This will be held to account,” Interior Minister Yvette Cooper said.
Cooper also said social media has given a “rocket booster” to the violence.
Starmer stressed that “criminal law applies online as well as offline”, and that arrests were already being made in connection with posts on Facebook and Snapchat.
Police have blamed the violence on people linked to the now-defunct English Defence League, a right-wing Islamophobic organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have had links to football hooliganism.
These rallies have been advertised on right-wing social media channels under the banner “Enough is enough”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
