Anti-immigration protest in Rotherham
Rotherham:
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned far-right protesters on Sunday that they would “regret” their participation in the worst riots in England in 13 years, as unrest broke out across the country over the killing of three children earlier this week.
Masked anti-immigration protesters smashed several windows of a hotel in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, which was being used to house asylum seekers.
Unrest has erupted in several towns and cities following misinformation about Monday's stabbing in the English coastal town of Southport in northwestern England, which saw anti-immigration protesters clash with police.
The violence poses a major challenge for Starmer, who was elected just a month ago after leading Labour to a landslide victory over the Conservatives.
“I guarantee you will regret any participation in this disorder, whether directly or through those who orchestrated this action online and then walked away,” Starmer said in a televised address.
There was “no justification” for what he called “far-right violence,” he added, vowing to bring the perpetrators “to justice.”
Shops looted and set on fire
BBC footage showed rioters breaking into a Holiday Inn Express in Rotherham. They also pushed a burning bin into the building. It was not clear whether asylum seekers were inside.
Ten officers were injured, but local police reported that no hotel staff or guests were injured.
In the northeastern English city of Middlesbrough, hundreds of protesters confronted riot police carrying shields, with some throwing rocks, cans and pots at officers.
Protesters there seized and destroyed a camera belonging to an AFP crew. The journalists were not injured.
The fresh unrest came after police said more than 150 people had been arrested since Saturday following clashes at far-right rallies in Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Blackpool and Hull, and in Belfast in Northern Ireland.
Rioters threw rocks, bottles and torches at police, injuring several officers. They also looted and set fire to shops, while protesters chanted anti-Islamic slogans as they clashed with counter-protesters.
The violence is the worst Britain has seen since the summer of 2011, when widespread rioting broke out after police shot and killed a mixed-race man in north London.
Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders in Liverpool jointly appealed for calm.
“We are now seeing it (the problems) spill over into major towns and cities,” said Tiffany Lynch, of the England and Wales Police.
On Sunday evening, Staffordshire Police reported that another hotel known to house asylum seekers near Birmingham had also been targeted.
“A large group of people” “threw projectiles, smashed windows, started fires and targeted police” at the hotel in the town of Tamworth, injuring one officer, the statement said.
Rioting first broke out in Southport on Tuesday night, following Monday’s violent knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance party in the north-west coastal town, before spreading to other parts of England.
They were fuelled by false rumours on social media about the background of British-born 17-year-old suspect Axel Rudakubana, who is accused of murdering a six-, seven- and nine-year-old child and injuring ten more people.
Police blame the violence on supporters and affiliated organisations of the English Defence League, an anti-Islamic organisation founded 15 years ago and whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism.
Agitators have attacked at least two mosques and the British Home Office announced on Sunday that it is introducing new emergency security measures for Muslim places of worship.
The meetings are announced on far-right social media channels under the slogan 'Enough is enough'.
Participants waved English and British flags and chanted slogans such as “Stop the boats”, a reference to illegal migrants crossing the Channel from France to Britain.
Anti-fascist protesters have held counter-demonstrations in many cities, including Leeds, chanting: “Nazi scum off our streets”, while far-right protesters chanted: “You are no longer English”.
Not all gatherings have turned violent. A peaceful rally in Aldershot, southern England, on Sunday saw participants holding placards reading “Stop the invasion” and “We're not far right, we're just right wing”.
“People are tired of being told they should be ashamed of being white and working class, but I am a proud white working class person,” Karina, 41, who did not want to give her surname, told AFP in Nottingham on Saturday.
In last month’s election, the Reform UK party, led by Brexit supporter Nigel Farage, won 14 percent of the vote, one of the highest percentages for a far-right British party.
Carla Denyer, co-chair of the left-wing GroenLinks party, said the unrest should be a “wake-up call” for “all politicians who have actively promoted or indulged in anti-immigration rhetoric”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Our staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
