UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Friday that authorities “have to stay on high alert going into this weekend”, amid fears of further far-right riots in English towns and cities.
Starmer said the work by the criminal justice system in recent days, including judges swiftly handing down lengthy jail sentences to some rioters, had acted as a deterrent to more violence.
His comments came after two nights of relative quiet across England, after a week of near nightly unrest in more than a dozen towns and cities in the wake of a deadly knife attack that killed three children.
Disturbances have continued unabated in Northern Ireland, however, where police have blamed pro-UK loyalist paramilitaries for fuelling nightly violence in Belfast.
“I’m absolutely convinced that having the police officers in place these last few days, and the swift justice that has been dispensed in our courts have had a real impact,” Starmer told UK broadcasters about the situation in England.
“But we have to stay on high alert going into this weekend because we absolutely have to make sure that our communities are safe and secure and feel safe and secure.”
Speaking during a visit to the headquarters of London’s Metropolitan Police, he said potential unrest caused by the start of the football season would be “added into the mix” of challenges facing police this weekend.
Some far-right rioters and agitators are believed to have links to England’s decades-old football hooligan scene, which has diminished since its heyday in the 1980s but can still see violence on match days.
Police in England said Thursday that forces nationwide had now arrested nearly 500 people for alleged participation in the unrest that began on July 30, while around a dozen people were jailed on Thursday for involvement.
The disturbances, first sparked by a July 29 knife attack that killed three children, have seen mosques and migrant-related facilities attacked alongside police and other targets.
Officials have blamed misinformation spread on social media about the suspected perpetrator for fuelling the disorder.
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