Standing Army of specialist cops will tackle rioting thugs – this is NOT protest… it’s thuggery, Starmer blasts
ATTACKING innocent Brits for the colour of their skin is thuggery, not a protest, Sir Keir Starmer blasted today.
The PM hit out at the depraved far-right maniacs wreaking havoc across Britain by cruelly targeting and attacking ethnic minorities.
He said: “This is not protest – this is violence. We’re not going to tolerate that in this country.”
Today Sir Keir summoned ministers and police chiefs for the first Cobra meeting since the riots started.
Speaking after the meeting, the Prime Minister said: “There are a number of actions that came out of the meeting.
“The first is we will have a Standing Army of specialist public duty officers so that we will have enough officers to deal with this where we need them.
“The second is we will ramp up criminal justice. There have already been hundreds of arrests, some have appeared in court this morning.
“I have asked for early consideration of the earliest naming and identification of those involved in the process who will feel the full force of the law.”
The PM and top cops put online and in-person thugs on notice, warning the full force of the law will come down on them.
A No10 spokesperson warned social media bosses that they have a responsibility to guarantee criminal activity doesn’t appear or run amok on their platforms.
They said ministers are in close contact with tech chiefs to “ensure they are meeting their obligations” around racist illegal activity.
Downing Street also confirmed there are enough free prison cells to ensure every last rioter is locked up.
A No10 spokesperson said: “The police, Home Office and National Crime Agency are working to tackle criminality online and to ensure people are prosecuted.
“They are working to tackle misinformation and bot activity.
“The additional courts protocol is in place to ensure that additional court capacity is in place as is needed, and as the home office announced, the protective security scheme for mosques has been extended with additional security in place across across the country.”
In Westminster the PM paid tribute to the “hard work of police officers over the past week” and “sent best wishes to those who have been injured protecting our streets”.
Sir Keir was told hundreds of arrests have been made and cops will continue to update ministers in relation to progress on arrests and charging.
There have been no requests from forces across the UK for the army to step in and provide back-up.
But additional police resources around the country at strategic locations are ready to be deployed where necessary.
More than 420 people have been arrested after social media lies whipped up riots across the UK.
Hundreds of thugs petrol-bombed a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, near Sheffield, yesterday.
Rioters in balaclavas hurled bricks and fire extinguishers at cops who tried in vain to stop them torching the hotel.
Ten riot cops were injured – including one who was knocked out after suffering a head injury.
Yobs also petrol-bombed a Holiday Inn hosting asylum seekers in Tamworth, Staffordshire.
A children’s library in Liverpool and a Citizens’ Advice centre in Sunderland were also torched over the weekend.
Mosques across the country have been attacked and shops owned by ethnic minority Brits have been looted.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper slammed the “disgraceful” riots – saying they betray Britain’s values.
Writing in The Times, Cooper said: “Make no mistake – there will be a reckoning for the individuals who took part in this violence.
“Whatever they and some of their political supporters may tell us, these are not patriots standing up for their communities.
“They are thugs, criminals, and extremists who betray the very values our country is built on.”
Shadow Home Secretary James Cleverly told Times Radio: “Mosques are being targeted, asylum hotels are being targeted.
“We are seeing people with swastika tattoos and giving Nazi salutes – this is self-evidently driven in significant part by the far right.
“We know that there is a very active online community stirring up hatred, stirring up the kind of attitudes which trigger events like this.
“So we know where this is coming from. It is absolutely right to describe the actions of these people as the far right.”
Tory leadership contender Cleverly said the government had been “slow” to crack down on the riots.
He said: “When the government gets things right, I will support them, because this issue is absolutely key.
“But I’m also concerned that they have been slow. It’s only today that Cobra is going to sit.”
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage called for Parliament to be recalled this morning.
Posting on X, Farage added: “We should not discount the use of the army if the situation were to deteriorate further.”
Fake news ‘bots’ & vile accounts spreading lies on social media WILL be stopped, Starmer vows
Speaking after today's Cobra meeting, the PM said:
There have been hundreds of arrests, people are already being charged and the police will continue to update on the specifics in relation to progress on arrests and charging.
The police are continuing to deploy additional resources around the country at strategic locations where necessary.
The police, home office, DC and NCA, are working to tackle criminality online, to ensure people are prosecuted, and they are working to tackle misinformation and bot activity.
The additional courts protocol is in place to ensure that additional court capacity is in place as is needed.
As the home office announced I think, on Friday, the protective security and mosque scheme has been extended with additional security in place across across the country.
Social media companies have responsibilities under the law. They have responsibilities to keep their users safe.
They have responsibility for ensuring that criminal activity is not on their platforms, and likewise, individuals who post illegal content online should know that they will also be met with the full force of the law.
There is not some sort of immunity by inciting illegal activity online.
There’s no kind of safe space where you can avoid prosecution, just because you are engaging in illegal activity online.
Violent clashes broke out in dozens of UK towns and cities last week and continued over the weekend.
They have been fuelled by online lies following the murders of three girls in Southport on Monday.
Posts wrongly claimed suspect Axel Rudakubana was a Muslim asylum seeker.
Rudakubana, 17, was actually born in Cardiff and raised as a Christian.
Terrifying violence followed the attack in Southport, before unrest spread to Hartlepool and Manchester on Wednesday.
Riots then broke out in Sunderland and Blackpool on Friday – and in 11 more cities on Saturday and Sunday.
At Middlesbrough’s Cenotaph, hundreds of protesters squared up to police before throwing slate, cans and pots at the officers.
A group of masked yobs walked through a residential suburb of the city.
They used metal bars and wooden posts to smash car windscreens and the windows of terraced houses.
Vehicles were torched, along with wheelie bins.
Meanwhile, in Weymouth cops were tasked with keeping protesters and counter-protesters separate along the beach.
Cops confirmed two officers were injured, one hit in the face with a bottle while the other was punched.
Another migrant hotel in the Hampshire town of Aldershot was also targeted.
A group of men outside Potters International Hotel brandished a banner insisting: “We’re not far right, we’re just right.”
By 6.45pm a crowd of some 200 “got involved in criminal activity, throwing objects and subjecting people to racist abuse,” according to Hampshire Police.
In the centre of Bolton, large crowds of anti-immigration demonstrators gathered along with counter-protesters while police tried to keep them apart.
Trouble also flared in Belfast, Blackpool, Stoke, Leeds, Hull, Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Bristol and Portsmouth.
Snaps show the devastation which rioters have left behind in many towns this morning.
One photo shows a torched upside-down car in Middlesbrough – with thugs responsible nowhere to be seen.
Cops are probing a reported threat of an “imminent attack” on Hastings Mosque.
THE SUN SAYS
THERE are several things to be learned from the sickening scenes of rioting across the UK following the murders of three innocent little girls in Southport.
That relying on the Wild West of social media to get news — instead of regulated, traditional and trusted media — opens users to a constant feed of fakery from distorted algorithms.
That a lack of speedy transparency from the police and other authorities often creates a vacuum into which lies are peddled by twisted conspiracy theorists.
This in turn is fuelled by disinformation deliberately spread by malign foreign states like Russia to sow discord in the UK.
There is no question the courts should now throw the book at the drunk and drugged-up far-right thugs responsible for mindless violence in towns like Rotherham.
Punishment, too, should be meted out to the hard-Left and Islamists also seeking to drive a wedge in our communities.
But it remains the case that unless the Government grips the twin problems of violent crime and illegal migration, vile organised racists and fanatics will always seek to exploit those issues.
That is precisely why Sir Keir Starmer wants to bring the full force of justice against the mobs.
Yet amid the sickening and depressing scenes, we have also been shown the uplifting true face of Britain.
Southport’s mosque repaired by volunteer builders, locals leading clean-up operations in their towns.
The far-Right faced down as, ultimately, they always have been.
Because it’s vital to remember that this remains a moderate, tolerant country — always capable of delivering a mocking brick-in-the-balls to the fascists who deserve derision as well as contempt.
We haven’t let them win before and we won’t start now.