London, Aug 4: Police forces across the UK have made at least 100 arrests as violent clashes and unrest involving anti-immigration far-right groups continued to spread over the weekend, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer offering his full support to officers to take firm action against the “extremists”.Bricks being hurled, fireworks thrown, windows of a hotel housing asylum seekers smashed, shops attacked and set on fire and several scuffles breaking out between mobs and the police were among the scenes of confrontation that played out in Liverpool, Hull, Bristol, Leeds, Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Belfast, Nottingham and Manchester on Saturday.
UK Home Secretary Yvette Cooper warned the mobs they will “pay the price” for such “criminal disorder and violent thuggery”.
“People particularly are frightened because of the colour of their skin, and that cannot be right and that is something this government will take every action to deal with,” UK Policing Minister Diana Johnson told the BBC.
“When I saw people looting some of the shops in the city centre, that’s nothing to do with genuine protest or people having different opinions about immigration. That’s about criminal behaviour that needs to be dealt with,” she said, warning the culprits there are “sufficient prison places” for such “criminal behaviour”.
Officials at the UK Ministry of Justice are said to be in discussions with the judiciary, as well as police chiefs and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for magistrates’ courts to open longer hours to speedily process the expected surge in the number of people in custody for riot-related offences.