British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday condemned what he described as “far-right thuggery” after days of violent anti-immigration protests culminated in an attack on a hotel, saying perpetrators would face the full force of the law.
Violent protests have erupted in towns and cities in Britain after three girls were killed in a knife attack at a children’s dance class in Southport in northwest England last week.
The murders last week were seized on by anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim groups as misinformation spread that the suspected attacker was an immigrant and a radical Islamist. Police have said the suspect was born in Britain and are not treating it as a terrorist incident.
The protests have spread through cities across the country, including in Liverpool, Bristol and Manchester on Saturday, resulting in dozens of arrests as shops and businesses were vandalised and looted and several police were injured.
On Sunday, hundreds of anti-immigration protesters gathered by a hotel near Rotherham, northern England, which Britain’s interior minister said was housing asylum seekers.
The protesters, many wearing masks or balaclavas, threw bricks at police and broke several hotel windows, a Reuters witness said, before setting nearby bins on fire and pushing them into the hotel.
“I utterly condemn the far-right thuggery we’ve seen this weekend,” Starmer said in a statement. “Be in no doubt, those that have participated in this violence will face the full force of the law.”
He said the disorder was targeting people because of the colour of their skin or faith, and says there was no way to legitimise the disorder on Britain’s streets.
“It doesn’t matter what apparent motivation there is. This is violence, this is not protest,” he said.
Starmer, who took office a month ago after his Labour Party won a decisive election victory over the long-ruling Conservatives, said residents and staff were in “absolute fear” from the “marauding gangs” in Rotherham.
“There is no justification – none – for taking this action and all right-minded people should be condemning this sort of violence,” he said.
Dozens of other protesters gathered by a hotel in Aldershot, southern England, while others marched through the town centre of Middlesbrough in the northeast.
In both Rotherham and the northwest town of Lancaster, there were anti-racist protesters, with police keeping the two groups apart.
The interior ministry said mosques would be offered extra security under new arrangements after threats against them.
As protests began in Bolton, near Manchester, police said that a dispersal notice had been authorised to give officers extra powers, with a similar notice in place in Liverpool.
The last time violent protests erupted across Britain was in 2011 when thousands of people took to the streets after police shot dead a Black man in London. Starmer was the country’s chief prosecutor at that time.
This weekend’s protests followed several days of disorder immediately after the murders in Southport, near Liverpool, with families of the victims and community leaders criticising the unrest.
“While this should be a time for quiet reflection and remembrance, since Monday, too many people have sought to use the tragedy to create division and hate,” a group of faith leaders from Liverpool said in a joint statement.
“It can – and has – left communities in fear and has put people in danger.”
