UK riots live: rioters jailed over Merseyside disorder as police brace for more far-right unrest | UK news

Head of counter-terrorism policing confirms it is ‘actively assessing incidents’ and supporting forces across the UK

Vikram Dodd

Our Politics Weekly UK podcast has just launched an episode about the far-right violence that has been seen in England and Northern Ireland in recent days. In it, Gaby Hinsliff speaks to the Guardian’s deputy political editor, Jessica Elgot, and Nazir Afzal, the former chief prosecutor for the north-west of England.

Listen to it here: Politics Weekly UK – Will the threat of arrests be enough to stop far-right violence?

Northern Ireland secretary Hilary Benn has said he is “shocked and angry” that businesses in the region had been targeted during violence after anti-immigration protests.

PA Media reports Benn said he met some of the business owners who have been attacked and PSNI officers who have been dealing with the violent disorder.

At a press conference at a community centre in Belfast, held with Northern Ireland Office minister Fleur Anderson, he said it was “really important” that people who are “shocked and angered and disgusted by what is happening speak up”.

Benn said: “People are entitled to protest and people are entitled to their political views, but there is no justification whatsoever for engaging in this kind of violence that is targeting particular communities.

“Members of these communities, some of whom I’ve met today, are frightened. People are afraid to go out of their own houses.”

Sinn Féin MLA Deirdre Hargey earlier made a statement after meeting with Benn. She said “Today’s meeting was an opportunity to press upon him the urgent need to support businesses damaged by racist violence. I also told the British secretary of state that the PSNI urgently needs additional resources to deal with sporadic racist violence.

“It is important that police have every tool available to protect life and property, and to bring those responsible for this reprehensible racist behaviour to justice. Racist disorder is not welcome or reflective of Belfast and our people. All hate, discrimination, racism and intimidation must be eradicated from our society.”

Neha Gohil, community affairs correspondent at the Guardian, has spoken to activists who opposed the UK far right in 1970s. You can read that here:

Labour Liverpool city councillor Ruth Bennett says her and her fellow councillors have been “overwhelmed” by the support for the Spellow Library on County Road which was fire damaged by far-right rioters.

PA Media reports Bennett said “We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of our residents, partners and people from right across the country.

“From thousands of pounds of cash donations to replace destroyed books and IT equipment, to the use of building spaces so that community services can continue at a time when they are most needed, the thoughtfulness and generosity has been overwhelming. It shows the very best of the people of Liverpool and beyond.”

Liverpool city council said activities planned for the library over summer had now been relocated.

Here is a video clip of the Metropolitan police commissioner, Mark Rowley, who has said accusations of two-tier policing are “complete nonsense” and that those making the claims were putting officers at risk.

Diane Taylor writes for the Guardian today, arguing that lies flourished in a vacuum where governments were scared to look soft on asylum seekers, much less dare to express any humanity:

The rate at which asylum claims were processed slumped from 2016, partly due to inefficiency and partly, I imagine, because ministers feared that processing asylum claims too quickly would signal to voters that the UK was a soft touch. The growing backlog and the pandemic were a perfect storm that led to an explosion of hotel use – and the gift of a photo opportunity for the far right, which turned up regularly at this accommodation to bait bewildered asylum seekers and capture exchanges on film they could livestream.

The discontent of far-right, anti-migrant voters was nourished with toxic narratives from the likes of former home secretaries Priti Patel and Suella Braverman, the former slamming immigration and human rights lawyers doing their jobs as “lefty lawyers” and the latter scaremongering that 100 million asylum seekers could cross the Channel to invade the UK.

While legislating against the peddling of racist lies online, and the conviction and imprisonment of those who have participated in current disorder, are important, there’s one thing politicians haven’t tried. It isn’t complicated to implement and it doesn’t cost anything. Start telling the truth and tell it over and over again. Disseminate factually accurate information with confidence through schools, community and faith groups, local authorities and other organisations.

Read more from Diane Taylor’s opinion column here: Politicians – there’s an easy remedy to the violence we’re seeing across the UK. Start telling the truth

John Hyde, who is deputy news editor for Law Society Gazette, has made the point that “swift justice is fine” but offers the suggestion that “it might be worth an explainer from the CPS and Ministry of Justice at some point why these cases can be turned around so quickly when other cases take years.”

In doing so he raises the point that information vacuums can sometimes in themselves fuel accusations of two-tier policing. Shadow policing minister Matt Vickers made a point earlier about how visible the justice process is, telling Sky News viewers:

It would be helpful, actually, for more of the public to see what went through the courts in response to what had gone on in Middlesbrough [during the unrest]

So, two people go through the courts yesterday. One, being a person who turned up to protest actually, they’d seen this stuff online, gone down there to get involved in all this violence and disorder, and they deserve what’s coming.

And at the same time, I saw that somebody who turned up to counter protest, armed with a knife, was feeling the full force of the law. And that’s exactly what should happen.

Writing in the Spectator, Stephen Webb, formerly director at the Home Office and the Cabinet Office, and now working as head of government reform and home affairs at the right-leaning Policy Exchange thinktank, argues that a perceived lack of information is what allowed “rioters to believe the lies”. He claims:

The willingness to believe lies is a symptom of decaying trust in official channels. Government, the media and the police need to have a hard look at their own communications and whether they may have contributed to this mistrust, even from the best of intentions.

Many believe the authorities’ priority is to preserve community relations at all costs, including by damping down discussions of particularly sensitive crimes; and that many of the media outlets cooperate. This might not be the case but there is a pattern here.

Much of the current messaging focuses exclusively on the far-right as the perpetrators, but less on the intimidating ‘counter protests’ involving groups of masked men.

Prime minister Keir Starmer has used his social media channel to share a clip of a news announcement of the sentencing of rioters for violent disorder with the message “This is the swift action we’re taking. If you provoke violent disorder on our streets or online, you will face the full force of the law.”

Greater Manchester police have issued a statement addressed to the local community in their are of operation, in which they say these are “challenging times” but that the force is “immensely proud to see the majority of our residents standing together and condemning this unacceptable disorder.”

In the statement, the force says that “to date, we have made 26 arrests for a variety of offences including assault, violent disorder, possession of weapons, and 20 have been charged.”

It says:

We understand the uncertainty and worry that people are feeling about current tension, much of which is being fuelled by the widespread sharing of misinformation online which is sometimes being created with the purpose of creating fear and inciting intolerable hate.

Our advice to communities is to remain calm and to try to go about your every-day life. GMP continues to monitor the intelligence to ensure we can respond effectively to any incidents of disorder. And, if we believe there needs to be specific information about anything emerging we will tell people and offer advice.

We are heavily resourced, and we have specialist officers and staff who are working around the clock to tackle these issues and ensure our communities are supported. We are speaking to community leaders and elected representatives regularly to make sure they are appraised of all planned protests known to GMP. People living safely and peacefully, do not deserve to be frightened: we are here to protect you, and we will use all resources and capabilities to do so.

The statement concludes by telling the public that “your unwavering support has not gone unnoticed.”

My colleague Ben Quinn has put together this guide to several of the factions of the far-right operating in Britain.

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