UK PM Starmer calls Cobra meeting over riots, 'Nazi salutes in streets'

An emergency meeting is scheduled to take place at Downing Street on Monday, following a weekend of widespread unrest and violent confrontations involving far-right anti-immigration groups, which resulted in over 150 arrests.

The meeting will be held in the Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, commonly called a Cobra meeting, where ministers, civil servants, law enforcement, intelligence officials, and other relevant parties will convene to address the crisis, BBC reported.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer strongly condemned an attack Sunday on a hotel housing asylum seekers that saw at least 10 police officers injured, one seriously, describing it as “far-right thuggery." In a statement from 10 Downing Street on Sunday afternoon, the prime minister vowed that the authorities will “do whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice" and that justice will be swift.

Starmer’s statement came as more violence broke out across the country in the wake of a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and many more wounded.

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“I guarantee you will regret taking part in this disorder, whether directly or those whipping up this action online and then running away themselves," he said. “This is not a protest, it is organized, violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets or online.”

The past weekend saw escalating tensions in multiple cities, including Liverpool, Hull, Bristol, Leeds, Blackpool, Stoke-on-Trent, Belfast, Nottingham, and Manchester, with incidents of brick-throwing, firework attacks, hotel vandalism, shop fires, and clashes between rioters and police.

Suspects under 18 are usually not named in the U.K., but the judge in the case ordered Axel Rudakubana, born in Wales to Rwandan parents, to be identified, in part to stop the spread of misinformation. Rudakubana has been charged with three counts of murder, and 10 counts of attempted murder.

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Hundreds of people have been arrested in connection with the disorder and many more are likely as police scour CCTV, social media and body-worn camera footage. However, police have also warned that with widespread security measures, with thousands of officers deployed, other crimes may not be investigated fully.

With so many arrests, the courts will face a challenge in processing all the charges at a time when the criminal justice system is overstretched, following years of austerity and the COVID pandemic. In May, the National Audit Office warned that the courts faced a backlog of more than 60,000 cases, while the government said last month that thousands of inmates would have to be released early to ease prison overcrowding.

With inputs from agencies.