The British government has increased the capacity of its prisons to deal with a week of violent anti-immigrant riots. These riots have led to many countries warning their citizens about the dangers of traveling to Britain.
Riots have erupted in several cities and towns after three girls were killed at a Taylor Swift-themed event in the seaside town of Southport in northern England. The suspected killer was identified as an Islamist migrant through a false message on social media.
The Justice Department, which is grappling with an overcrowded prison system that has forced some inmates to be released early, said about 600 prison spots have been reserved for people accused of violence.
So far about 400 people have been arrested.
Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said: “My message to anyone who chose to take part in this violence and thuggery is simple: the police, the courts and the prisons are ready and you will face the consequences of your appalling actions.”
Due to this unrest, India, Australia, Nigeria and other countries have warned their citizens to remain alert.
Reeva Peacock, a 22-year-old retail worker in Liverpool, where rioters clashed with police at the weekend, said the violence was shocking.
“A lot of people blame immigrants for the state of affairs in this country,” he told Reuters. “It’s a real shame that the most vulnerable people in our society are used as scapegoats for these issues.”
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to hold to account those who attacked mosques and hotels hosting migrants, threw bricks at police and counter-protesters, and looted shops and burned cars.
Police on Tuesday charged a 28-year-old man with inciting racial hatred through a Facebook post. A 14-year-old juvenile pleaded guilty to violent disorder.
Trouble also broke out on Monday night in Plymouth in southern England and in Belfast in Northern Ireland, where hundreds of rioters hurled petrol bombs and heavy stones at police officers and set a police Land Rover on fire.
An online message said immigration centers and law firms assisting migrants would be targeted on Wednesday.
Widespread violence
For the first time in 13 years, widespread violence has erupted in Britain. Hundreds of men, some women and children have attacked hotels housing refugees from Africa and the Middle East. They chanted “get them out” and “stop the boats”. These slogans were raised in reference to the refugees arriving in southern England on small boats.
They have also thrown stones at mosques, unconfirmed videos online showed some ethnic minority people being beaten up and a man was photographed at a protest in Sunderland on Friday with a swastika tattooed on his back.
Videos surfaced online on Monday evening showing a group of Asian people gathering with Palestinian flags in Birmingham, Britain’s second-largest city, amid reports the area could be targeted by anti-migrant protesters.
Journalists at the scene reported they were treated with hostility, and video showed a white man being attacked in a pub.
The prospect of conflict between white and ethnic minority groups revived memories of the race riots in Oldham and other northern English towns in 2001 – which an official report later blamed on a lack of social cohesion, with the two communities leading parallel lives.
The government has said recent riots were not a proportionate response to immigration concerns but violence instigated by right-wing agitators supported by football hooligans and young people.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
