UK braces for more far-right protests as gov’t warns of tough response
Al Jazeera
The UK’s prime minister has promised a tough response to stop ‘a breakdown in law and order on our streets’ as the Muslim Council of Britain urges mosques to take precautionary measures during Friday prayers.
UK police are bracing for potential further violent far-right demonstrations in the wake of several skirmishes after online misinformation attributed the stabbing of three children at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday dance class to a Muslim immigrant.
Demonstrations were being promoted online over the coming days in towns and cities including Sunderland, Belfast, Cardiff, Liverpool and Manchester, using phrases including “enough is enough,” “save our kids” and “stop the boats”.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to end the mayhem and said police across the UK would be given more resources to stop “a breakdown in law and order on our streets”.
The British government’s adviser on political violence and disruption John Woodcock said there was a “concerted and coordinated” attempt to spread the violence.
The murders on Monday of Alice Dasilva Aguiar, 9, Elsie Dot Stancombe, 7, and Bebe King, 6, in the seaside town of Southport shocked a country where knife crime is a longstanding and vexing problem, though mass stabbings are rare.
