Prime Minister Keir Starmer will chair a Cobra emergency response meeting on Monday following a weekend of far-right riots across England. The violence erupted after the tragic murder of three children last week in Southport, northwest England.
The riots began on Tuesday in Southport, where three young girls were killed, and five more children critically injured during a knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class. Since then, unrest has spread to other towns and cities, resulting in hundreds of arrests.
Anti-immigration protesters, reportedly linked to the English Defence League (EDL), have clashed with police and, in some instances, Muslim counter-protestors. The EDL, an anti-Islam organisation associated with football hooliganism, is believed to be behind much of the violence.
One of the worst incidents occurred on Sunday in Rotherham, where masked demonstrators attacked a hotel housing asylum seekers, injuring at least ten officers, including one who was knocked unconscious. Other significant disturbances were reported in Bolton and Middlesbrough, where rioters smashed windows of homes and cars, leading to 43 arrests.
Police in Staffordshire reported another hotel, near Birmingham, known for housing asylum seekers, was also targeted.
Starmer warned far-right protesters they would “regret” their actions, and his interior minister, Yvette Cooper, told the BBC that “there will be a reckoning.” The emergency Cobra meeting will involve ministers and police to devise strategies to quell the ongoing violence.
