UK authorities faced growing pressure on Sunday to put an end to England’s worst rioting in 13 years after disturbances linked to child murders and involving far-riot agitators flared across the country.
Unrest related to misinformation about a mass stabbing that killed three young girls earlier this week has spread to multiple towns and cities, with anti-immigration demonstrators clashing with police.
The violence is posing a major test for Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was elected only a month ago after leading Labour to a landslide win over the Conservatives.
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In the latest incident, trouble flared in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, on Sunday when masked anti-immigration demonstrators smashed several windows at a hotel that has been used to house asylum seekers.
More than 90 people were arrested on Saturday after skirmishes broke out at far-right rallies in numerous places, including Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol, Blackpool and Hull, as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland.
In some instances, rioters threw bricks, bottles and flares at police — injuring several officers — looted and burnt shops, while demonstrators shouted anti-Islamic slurs as they clashed with counter-protesters.
The violence is the worst England has seen since the summer of 2011, when widespread rioting took place following the police killing of a mixed-race man in north London.
“We’re now seeing it (trouble) flooding across major cities and towns,” said Tiffany Lynch of the Police Federation of England and Wales.
The government said the police have “all the resources they need” to deal with the disorder, as forces drafted in thousands of extra officers to try to stop the violence from spreading further.
Policing minister Diana Johnson told BBC News on Sunday that the rioting would “not be tolerated”, while justice minister Shabana Mahmood has insisted that “the whole justice system is ready to deliver convictions as quickly as possible”.
The disturbance in Rotherham marked the fifth day of skirmishes following Monday’s frenzied knife attack at a Taylor Swift-theme dance party in Southport, near Liverpool on England’s northwest coast.
They were fuelled by false rumours on social media about the background of British-born 17-year-old suspect Axel Rudakubana, who is accused of killing a six, seven, and nine-year-old, and injuring another 10 people.
Police have blamed the violence on supporters and associated organisations of the English Defence League, an anti-Islam organisation founded 15 years ago whose supporters have been linked to football hooliganism.
Agitators have targeted mosques in Southport and in the northeastern English city of Sunderland, leading to hundreds of Islamic centres bolstering security amid fears for their worshippers’ safety.
The rallies have been advertised on far-right social media channels under the banner “Enough is enough”.
Participants have waved English and British flags while chanting slogans like “Stop the boats” — a reference to irregular migrants travelling to Britain from France.
Anti-fascist demonstrators have held counter-rallies in many cities, including Leeds where they shouted, “Nazi scum off our streets”, as the far-right protesters chanted, “You’re not English any more”.
Not all the gatherings have turned violent. A peaceful one in Aldershot, southern England, on Sunday saw participants hold placards that read “Stop the invasion” and “We’re not far right, we’re just right”.
“People are fed up with being told you should be ashamed if you’re white and working class but I’m proud white working class,” 41-year-old Karina, who did not give her surname, told AFP in Nottingham on Saturday.
Commentators have suggested that the demonstrators, spurred on by online influencers, may feel emboldened by the political ascendancy of anti-immigration elements in British politics.
At last month’s election, the Reform UK party led by Brexit cheerleader Nigel Farage captured 14 percent of the vote — one of the largest vote shares for a far-right British party.
Carla Denyer, co-leader of the left-wing Green party said the unrest should be “a wake-up call to all politicians who have actively promoted or given in” to anti-immigration rhetoric.
Starmer has accused “thugs” of “hijacking” the nation’s grief to “sow hatred” and has announced new measures to allow the sharing of intelligence, wider deployment of facial-recognition technology and criminal behaviour orders to restrict troublemakers from travelling.