UK PM holds emergency meeting to end far-right violence across Britain

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will hold an urgent meeting with ministers and top law enforcement officials as he seeks to end days of street violence and attacks on hotels housing asylum seekers.

Lawlessness has swept the country over the past six days as right-wing activists use social media to whip up anger over a stabbing rampage at a dance class that left three girls dead and many more wounded. Many of the attacks have targeted immigrants and Muslims.

On Sunday, angry mobs attacked two hotels used to house asylum seekers, breaking windows and lighting fires before police dispersed the crowds and residents were evacuated.

During Monday’s meeting of the government’s emergency response committee, known as Cobra, police chiefs and government ministers are expected to develop a response to ensure there is no repeat of the violence.

“As Keir said, as every decent person has said, I think these are far-right thugs who attacked some of the most vulnerable people in our communities and there is absolutely no excuse,” Oliver Coppard, the mayor of South Yorkshire, told the BBC. “There can never be any excuse for trying to burn to death 200 of the most vulnerable people in our community.”

The Home Office, which is responsible for law and order, has offered mosques greater protection under a new “rapid response process” designed to quickly tackle the threat of further attacks on places of worship.

‘You will regret taking part in this’

Starmer gave an emergency address to the nation in the wake of the violence on Sunday, blasting the “far-right thuggery” gripping pockets of the UK.

The prime minister vowed his government would do “whatever it takes to bring these thugs to justice”. 

As he spoke, police in the English town of Rotherham struggled to hold back a mob of far-right rioters who were attempting to break into a hotel housing asylum seekers. 

“There is no justification, none, for taking this action, and all right-minded people should be condemning this sort of violence,” Starmer said. 

“I won’t shy away from calling it what it is, far-right thuggery,” he added. 

Police have warned that other crimes may not be investigated fully as thousands of officers were deployed to combat the riots amidst widespread security measures. 

Calls for protests have come from across social media, but a key player in amplifying them is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a long-time extremist agitator who goes by the name of Tommy Robinson.

He led the English Defence League, a far-right, Islamophobic organisation that Merseyside Police has linked to a violent protest in Southport last week, a day after the stabbing.  

Starmer vowed to end the mayhem and said police across the UK would be given more resources and that those taking part would face “the full force of the law”. 

“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 protest. It is organised, violent thuggery and it has no place on our streets or online.”