Rotherham: Since the far-right disturbances began, over 400 people have been arrested, and there has also been trouble in Belfast.
The biggest civil unrest to hit Britain in 13 years has resulted in riots in a number of English cities and towns as well as Belfast, Northern Ireland, throughout the past week. Since anti-immigrant and far-right violence erupted following the deaths of three young girls in Southport, northwest England, last Monday, police have made 378 arrests.
What is the cause of the violence?
On July 29, three women were stabbed to death in a dance class in Southport that was modeled after Taylor Swift: Bebe King, age six; Elsie Dot Stancombe, age seven; and Alice Dasilva Aguiar, age nine. Five of the eight other children who received knife wounds are still in critical condition. Critical injuries also befell two adults.
Axel Rudakubana, a 17-year-old Cardiff native who had been residing in Banks, a Lancashire village a few miles north of Southport, is accused of committing three murders and ten attempted murders.
False reports circulated online before the suspect’s identification was established, claiming he was a Muslim seeking refuge who had come to the UK by boat. Following these messages, far-right individuals have congregated in towns and cities around the nation, some of them led by social media, and some of them are yelling anti-immigration and anti-Islamic phrases. As rival groups have clashed, counter-protests have also grown.
Where are the riots occurring?
Barely 36 hours after the three girls were slain, on Tuesday, hundreds of rioters converged on the beach town of Southport, where residents were still in mourning. The altercation, which focused on a mosque a short stroll from the scene of the tragedy, resulted in the injuries of over fifty police officers.
The following day, the unrest extended to Aldershot in the south, Hartlepool in the northeast, Manchester in the northwest, and London in the west of England. incidents broke out on Saturday throughout England in Liverpool, Blackpool, Hull, Stoke-on-Trent, Leeds, Nottingham, and Bristol; there were also incidents in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The disturbance persisted throughout the weekend.
In the South Yorkshire town of Rotherham on Sunday, rioters attacked police officers and attempted to set fire to a hotel that housed asylum seekers. A similar event occurred later in Tamworth, Staffordshire, at a Holiday Inn Express hotel, where there were allegations of fires, broken windows, and missiles hurled at police, suggesting that asylum seekers were also being lodged. Rioters threw objects at police and broke windows of cars and homes in the northeastern town of Middlesbrough.
What is the British government up to?
On Monday morning, Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, presided over an urgent meeting attended by ministers and police chiefs. It came after his Sunday national address on television, during which he promised that rioters would “regret” their involvement in “far-right thuggery.”
Cooper stated that the Home Office has taken immediate action to guarantee mosques receive additional protection and that the courts are “standby” to provide “swift justice.”
Because of the riots, a number of nations, including Nigeria, Malaysia, and Indonesia, have issued safety advisories to their residents in the UK.
