Prison places ready for ‘thuggish’ rioters, says home secretary
The home secretary has said prison places “are ready” for the “thuggish minority of criminals” rioting across the UK, ahead of an emergency COBRA meeting today.
Yvette Cooper will hold the emergency meeting this morning following nearly a week of rioting in cities and towns across the UK.
More than 140 people have been arrested so far across the country. In Middlesbrough alone, officers arrested 43 people.
She told Sky News those involved, who have injured police, targeted mosques and caused criminal damage, are “a thuggish minority of criminals”.
She said:
They do not speak for our communities.
We’ve made sure there are additional prosecutors in place, that there are prisons, that prison places ready, and also that the courts stand ready as well.
We have made very clear to the police they have our full support in pursuing the full range of prosecutions and penalties, including the serious prison sentences, long term tagging, travel bans and more.
Key events
Rory Carroll
Irish police are investigating the involvement of anti-immigrant activists from Dublin at a protest in Belfast that turned into a riot.
Protestors from the republic carried Irish tricolour flags alongside loyalists who carried British flags at a gathering outside Belfast city hall on Saturday. A mob clashed with police and targeted businesses owned by foreigners, including a supermarket owned by a Syrian and a cafe run by a Sudanese man.
Some of the Irish visitors later spent the night drinking with members of the Ulster Defence Association paramilitary group at a loyalist bar, the Belfast Telegraph reported. The UK-wide anti-immigrant riots have evoked comparisons to a riot in Dublin last November.
Ireland’s taoiseach, Simon Harris, spoke with Northern Ireland’s first minister, Michelle O’Neill, on Sunday. They said police on both sides of the border would cooperate to counter efforts to sow hate, racism and division.
Four men aged 34, 38, 46 and 53 were to appear in Belfast Magistrates’ Court on Monday on charges linked to the disturbances.
“We have people in our community this morning who have invested their lives in building businesses, in settling into our community and in providing services to our community, who have now seen their entire livelihoods wiped out in one night of sickening violence and that has to stop,” Naomi Long, the justice minister, told the BBC.
“We are already seeing now on social media people making preparations for another round of this this week. This cannot continue, we cannot have this kind of Islamaphobia, xenophobia and hatred on our streets.”
Jeremy Corbyn and four fellow independent MPs have criticised Sir Keir Starmer for not going “nearly far enough in identifying the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hatred” behind the riots on Britain’s streets.
In a letter to home secretary Yvette Cooper, shared on social media, they wrote: “While we welcome the Prime Minister’s condemnation of the ‘far-right thuggery’ that has scarred our towns and cities this weekend, we feel his words do not go nearly far enough in identifying the anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim hatred driving this violence.
“When people are under attack for the colour of their skin and their faith, government references to ‘understandable fears’ send mixed messages and only give succour to those seeking to sow hatred and division.
“At a time when gangs of violent racist thugs are targeting mosques and asylum centres, we are alarmed the government has said they have no plans to meet with the largest body representing Muslims in the UK, the Muslim Council of Britain. We find it inconceivable representatives of any other faith community would be treated in a similar manner.
“Instead of pandering to those who have helped ferment the ugly racism behind these protests, we expect our Government to call out the bigotry and Islamophobia behind them and stand shoulder to shoulder with its victims.
“We reject any narrative that seeks to blame asylum seekers and immigrant communities for the decades of austerity and the subsequent decline in stable and well-paid jobs that has eroded the fabric of once-secure communities.”
The five MPs also called for an urgent meeting with the home secretary to “discuss what actions are planned to stamp out this racist terror”.
The leader of Tamworth borough council, councillor Carol Dean, and its chief executive Stephen Gabriel have issued a joint statement condemning Sunday’s violent attack on the town’s Holiday Inn Express.
Their statement said: “The outbreak of violence and criminal damage is totally unacceptable.
“We will do everything in our power to support the authorities to ensure the perpetrators are brought to account for their actions.
“Everyone has a right to express their views, that must be done, peacefully and responsibly.
“While we understand and respect the right of citizens to express their concerns and opinions, we cannot and will not support actions that resort to violence, intimidations and disorder.
“These events are not a reflection of our town and its community.”
Six arrests have been made, and one person has been charged, after violent disorder outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham on Sunday.
Assistant chief constable Lindsey Butterfield, of South Yorkshire police, said: “So far we have had six arrests, one in Sheffield and five in Rotherham, with one person already charged before the court this morning.
“Please be assured, we expect this number to increase significantly in the coming days.”
At least 12 police officers were injured during disorder outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham on Sunday.
Assistant chief constable Lindsey Butterfield, of South Yorkshire Police, said the injuries followed “a day and night of violence and disorder”, adding: “I can confirm today that we have seen at least 12 of our officers injured with items such as bricks, fenceposts, branches and other missiles thrown at them.
“Our police dogs suffered minor injuries after missiles were launched at them and horses had bricks, eggs, bottles and beer cans thrown at their heads.
“They were spat at and threats made to cut the saddles in an attempt to injure the riders.”
Five more people have been charged in connection with disorder, Merseyside Police said.
Gareth Metcalfe, 44, and John O’Malley, 43, both of Cambridge Gardens in Southport, have been charged with violent disorder after a group was seen showing aggression towards police in the town last Tuesday, PA reported.
A 14-year-old boy from Toxteth, who cannot be named because of his age, has been charged with violent disorder in Liverpool city centre on Saturday after officers in Clayton Square had fireworks set off in their direction.
Adam Wharton, 28, and Ellis Wharton, 22, of Selwyn Street, Walton, have both been charged with burglary other than a dwelling after a group entered the Spellow Hub library on County Road on Saturday and were challenged by officers trying to steal equipment.
Ellis Wharton was also charged with assault on an emergency worker.
All the defendants will appear at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Labour MP Diane Abbott said “we don’t know” what ministers are doing to tackle rioting on Britain’s streets as she demanded parliament be recalled.
Asked whether the government is doing enough, the Hackney North and Stoke Newington MP told the BBC: “We don’t know what they’re doing.
“That’s why we need parliament so they can be questioned on it.
“This is an extraordinarily grave situation. You’ve got people trying to burn down hostels where asylum seekers are cowering. You’ve got people attacking black and Muslim people on the street.
“We need to be able to question ministers on what exactly is being done and we want to speak up for our communities. These are racist anti-immigrant riots, and we need proper debate and proper analysis in the House of Commons.”
Abbott, the first black woman elected to the Commons, added that “unless there is a serious analysis of what is happening” she believes “there is no sign of these anti-immigrant incidents abating”.
Visiting the scene of the disorder in Rotherham, South Yorkshire mayor Oliver Coppard said:
Like every decent person from this community, from my community, from South Yorkshire, from across the country, I’m horrified. I’m appalled by the violence that we saw yesterday.
We saw a violent far-right mob come down to attack 240 of the most vulnerable people in our society and try and burn them in the hotel in which they were living.
That is not OK and there is no excuse for it.
Coppard said:
The far right have always said to those people with little that they need to attack people with even less.
And, that’s what we saw here yesterday: we saw 240 vulnerable people, who came here because in their own homes they have been persecuted.
They came to our country because we are a tolerant and diverse place and they faced those similar attacks that they might have faced at home here in South Yorkshire.
Defence secretary John Healey, who is the local MP, arrived at the scene in Rotherham to talk to residents about “the damage they have suffered and the trauma they have suffered”.
Healey said: “This was an estate yesterday that was wracked with shock and fear.
“Many people in this estate here got holed up in their own homes or felt that they had to get their families out.”
He said: “So, fear for the local residents. Fear for those staff in this hotel and the residents who saw the windows put through and people outside trying the set fire to this hotel knowing there were people inside.
“And then, of course, the violence that the police faced.”
Asked, as defence secretary, whether he had an plans to mobilise the Army, Healey said: “No. It’s the police’s job, their responsibility and they’ve got the powers to lead on disorder like this.”
Farage breaks riot silence to call for recall of parliament
Reform leader Nigel Farage has finally made a statement following the far-right riots across England.
On X, he has said he is “totally appalled” by the violence, while calling for the recall of parliament and consideration of using the army to prevent further disorder.
However, he goes on to further push his own agenda around so-called “two-tier policing” and “uncontrolled immigration”.
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