England Protest: Prime Minister Starmer Vows to Deal with Offenders, Says Scenes Were Not Protests, but Violent Thuggery

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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the scenes across England this week were not protests but violent thuggery and that participants would face the full force of the law.

Pictures and videos have flooded the internet of weapon bearing gangs and rioters deliberately set fire to the building with people known to be inside, before attacking residents.

A fresh outburst of violent disorder broke out in several English towns and cities on Sunday, further escalating the most widespread far-right violence in the UK for years, according to the Financial Times.

Sky News, in the city of Middlesbrough, some rioters were seen smashing car windows as they walked through a residential area, including one rioter who threw a piece of broken glass through the window of a home.

One of the rioters shouted “which car are we going to smash next?.

Another replied “because we’re English” when asked by a resident why they were breaking windows.

The rioters were seen attacking journalist and smashing cameras of cameramen covering the violence in Rotherham others had their filming equipment taken out of his hands and smashed onto the floor, as they attempted to film rioters that threw bricks at a police van.

The unrest is the first big test for the Labour Government, which took office last month after 14 years in opposition. It has been fuelled by a torrent of Islamophobic and anti-immigrant disinformation spread on social media since a mass stabbing in Southport near Liverpool last week.

Far-right influencers falsely blamed the attack, in which three young girls were killed and eight other children injured, on a Muslim and used the incident to whip up anti-immigrant sentiment.

On Sunday, a far-right protest in the South Yorkshire town of Rotherham turned violent as masked rioters stormed a hotel housing asylum seekers.

The demonstration had begun several hours earlier but escalated as the crowd began pelting officers with debris and bottles. Footage posted online showed a bin being set on fire outside the hotel and a mob smashing their way inside. 

South Yorkshire Police said that at least 10 of its officers were injured in the clashes, which were attended by more than 700 people. No staff or residents of the hotel had been reported injured, but they were left “terrified”, the police said. 

Home secretary Yvette Cooper said the rioters “deliberately” set fire to the building “with people known to be inside” and urged police to take “the strongest action against those responsible”.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the scenes across England this week were not protests but “violent thuggery” and that participants would face the “full force of the law”.

“This is not a protest, it is organised violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets or online,” he said.

Mosques across the country will be offered new emergency security measures, Cooper announced. The police, local authorities and mosques will be able to ask for rapid security to be deployed in the event of disorder breaking out.

More than 100 people have been arrested in London as further protests took place in several cities after the Southport stabbings.

A police car was set alight after a large group of people gathered in the Murray Street area of Hartlepool on Wednesday evening. Officers were attacked with missiles, glass bottles and eggs, Cleveland police said.

In Manchester, demonstrators turned out in large numbers outside the Holiday Inn hotel on Oldham Road at about 6pm on Wednesday, the Manchester Evening News reported.

About 40 people, which the paper reported included children and men wearing balaclavas, gathered outside the Oldham Road premises in what the paper said “appeared to be a stand against asylum seekers currently being housed in the hotel.”

In London, a large protest was staged under the title of Enough is Enough, with arrests made after demonstrators clashed with officers in Whitehall on Wednesday.

The Metropolitan police said: “Over 100 people have been arrested for offences including violent disorder, assault on an emergency worker, and breach of protest conditions. Some officers suffered minor injuries.”

Demonstrators were seen launching beer cans and glass bottles at a line of police in riot gear in front of Downing Street and throwing flares on to the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square.

The angry scenes also included loud chants of “we want our country back” and “Oh Tommy Robinson”, referring to the far-rightwing activist.

Eight people were arrested after rioters in Hartlepool threw missiles, glass bottles and eggs at police during a disturbance linked to events in Southport.

A police car was also set alight during large-scale unrest over several hours in Hartlepool town centre on Wednesday night.

The protest began at about 6pm and led to the rapid deployment of police officers from Cleveland police as well as neighbouring forces.

Several hundred people gathered on the streets. Pictures and videos show police with riot shields being threatened by protesters carrying wooden bats and poles. There were also children throwing missiles at police.

Around 150 disorder-related arrests had been made across England by Saturday evening and the numbers are expected to rise in the coming days, according to the National Police Chiefs’ Council.

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