Britain on alert for unrest despite anti-racism campaigners halting protest

British authorities said Thursday they were preparing for the possibility of further unrest, even as they applauded the efforts of anti-racism campaigners and police officers who largely stifled a threatened wave of far-right demonstrations overnight.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer sounded the note of caution after a week of anti-immigrant violence that has scarred communities from Northern Ireland to the south coast of England. Starmer spoke to reporters at a mosque in Solihull, near Birmingham, where demonstrators shut down a shopping center on Sunday.

It's important that we don't let up here, Starmer said.

At an emergency meeting with law enforcement officers at his office, Starmer said on Thursday evening that police need to remain on high alert, Britain's Press Association reported. He credited strategic police staffing and swift justice for rioters in the courts for creating a deterrent that kept trouble at a minimum the night before.

Police across the United Kingdom had braced