London, Aug 8: Thousands of police personnel, including those with specialist training, are geared up as the so-called “standing army” of defence against an expected surge of far-right anti-immigration protests on Wednesday, this time targeted at immigration lawyers and their offices.After a week of violent clashes on the streets of different cities across the UK, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer chaired his second emergency COBRA meeting on Tuesday evening with ministers, police chiefs and security experts to draft a detailed strategy to counter any further riots. A list of solicitors’ firms and immigration advice agencies has been circulating online, inviting protesters to “mask up” and turn out – described by the government as “unacceptable”.
“We’re doing everything we can to ensure that where a police response is needed, it’s in place, where support is needed for particular places, that is in place,” Starmer told reporters after the Cabinet Office Briefing Room A (COBRA) meeting.
“Obviously it’s a difficult situation with disorder going on in a number of different places at the same time, but that is precisely why I held my second COBRA meeting to coordinate the response and to get the assurance that I want and need that we do have adequate police in place, that we are able to cope with this disorder,” he said.
Around 400 arrests have been made, with around 100 charged and appearing before the courts for a sped up “substantive sentencing” process.