British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has issued a stern warning to violent protestors targeting Muslim communities. He declared they would promptly meet the “full extent of judicial harshness,” as an attempt to pacify the anti-immigration unrest that has erupted over recent days.
The horrifying murder of three young girls in Southport, located in the northwest of England, was exploited by anti-immigration and anti-Muslim factions, resulting in a surge of online false information encouraged by influential extreme-right personalities, leading to chaos across various towns and cities.
In light of an emergency consultation with law enforcement and prison authorities on Monday, Mr Starmer said, “Regardless of any perceived motivations, this can not be termed a protest but sheer violence, and we will not allow any assaults on mosques or our Muslim communities.”
He pledged for stringent enforcement of the law against all those identified as participants in the violence.
The UK’s Interior Minister, Yvette Cooper, accused the rioters of utilising this crisis to incite racial animosity. She assured a dire repercussion for the culprits, stating the government’s support for penalties that include imprisonment and travel prohibitions.
Since the violence began, 378 individuals have been taken into custody, as reported by Britain’s National Police Chiefs’ Council.
Keir Starmer also revealed the strategy of having a ‘standing army’ of specialist police officers to respond to violent incidents if necessary.
The police have held online misinformation, inflamed by prominent individuals, responsible for provoking the violence.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, commonly known by the pseudonym Tommy Robinson and the former head of the defunct anti-Islam organisation English Defence League, has been accused by the media of distributing false information to his 875,000 followers on X.
Denying these claims, Mr Yaxley-Lennon said, “They’re deceitfully trying to turn the people against me, I need your support; you’re my voice.”
Elon Musk, the proprietor of X, also offered his perspective. In reaction to a post on X which inferred that mass migration and open borders are causing the chaos in Britain, he opined that a “Civil War is unavoidable.” The spokesperson for Mr Starmer expressed that there was “no conceivable validation” for saying such a thing.
Cooper, the Domestic Affairs Secretary, informed the media that the government is determined to crack down on internet falsehoods with the assistance from social networking companies. She firmly believes that immigration issues do not validate any form of brutality.
“People with rational attitudes who harbour these kinds of apprehensions, don’t resort to throwing bricks at law enforcement,” she argued.
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