UK's Starmer vows 'swift criminal sanctions' for rioters

LONDON

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday vowed "swift criminal sanctions" following an emergency meeting on the far-right riots that have broken out across England over the murder of three children.

As part of a "number of actions" to come out of the meeting, the government will "ramp up criminal justice" to ensure that "criminal sanctions are swift", Starmer told the media.

The prime minister chaired a meeting bringing together ministers and the police to discuss how to quell the violence that first broke out in Southport, northwest England, on Tuesday.

Police have arrested hundreds of people in towns and cities nationwide, with anti-immigration demonstrators and rioters facing off against police and counter-protestors, including groups of Muslims.

The unrest follows last Monday's tragedy in Southport in which three young girls were killed and five more children critically injured during a knife attack as they attended a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.

Starmer on Sunday warned rioters they would "regret" participating in England's worst disorder in 13 years, while his interior minister Yvette Cooper told the BBC on Monday that "there will be a reckoning".

Police have blamed the violence on supporters and associated organisations of the English Defense League, an anti-Islam organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism.

Some of the worst scenes on Sunday broke out in Rotherham, northern England, where masked rioters smashed several windows at a hotel that has been used to house asylum seekers.

At least 10 officers were injured, including one who was knocked unconscious, said South Yorkshire Police.

There were also large scuffles in Bolton, north west England, and Middlesbrough, north east England, where mobs smashed windows of houses and cars, leading to 43 arrests.

Protesters there seized a camera from an AFP crew and broke it. The journalists were not injured.

Late Sunday, Staffordshire police said another hotel known to have sheltered asylum seekers was targeted near Birmingham.

"A large group of individuals" have been "throwing projectiles, smashing windows, starting fires and targeting police" at the hotel in the town of Tamworth, with one officer injured, said the statement.

  Shops looted, burnt 

The violence is a major challenge for Starmer, elected only a month ago after leading Labour to a landslide win over the Conservatives.

"I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder. Whether directly or those whipping up this action online, and then running away themselves," Starmer said on Sunday.

There was "no justification" for what he called "far-right thuggery", promising to bring the perpetrators "to justice".

MPs from all sides have urged Starmer to recall parliament from its summer holiday, including Conservative former interior minister Priti Patel, Labour MPs Diane Abbott and Dawn Butler, and Reform U.K. leader Nigel Farage.

Police have said more than 150 people were arrested over the weekend.

Rioters threw bricks, bottles and flares at police — injuring several officers — and looted and burnt shops, while demonstrators shouted anti-Islamic slurs as they clashed with counter-protesters.

The violence is the worst England has seen since summer 2011, when widespread rioting followed the police killing of a mixed-race man in north London.

  'Wake-up call' 

Authorities have said the initial violence was partly caused by false rumours on social media about the background of British-born 17-year-old suspect Axel Rudakubana, who is accused of killing a six, seven, and nine-year-old, and injuring another 10 people.

Cooper on Monday said that social media put a "rocket booster" under the violence.

Agitators have targeted at least two mosques, and Cooper announced Sunday that the government was offering new emergency security to Islamic places of worship.

The rallies have been advertised on far-right social media channels under the banner "Enough is enough".

Participants have waved English and British flags while chanting slogans like "Stop the boats" — a reference to irregular migrants crossing the Channel to Britain from France.

Anti-fascist demonstrators have meanwhile held counter-rallies in many cities.

At last month's election, the Reform U.K. party led by Brexit cheerleader Farage captured 14 percent of the vote — one of the largest vote shares for a hard-right British party.