The British Government has increased its prison capacity to help tackle violent, week-long anti-immigrant riots that have prompted a growing number of countries to warn their citizens about the dangers of traveling in Britain.
Riots across a number of towns and cities have erupted following the murder of three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed event in Southport, a seaside town in northern England, after false messaging on social media wrongly identified the suspected killer as an Islamist migrant.
The Justice department, which is being forced to release some prisoners early as it battles a jail overcrowding crisis, said nearly 600 prison places have been secured to accommodate those involved in the violence. About 400 people have been arrested so far.
“My message to anyone who chooses to take part in this violence and thuggery is simple: the police, courts, and prisons stand ready, and you will face the consequences of your appalling acts,” Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, said.
The unrest has prompted India, Australia, Nigeria, and other countries to warn their citizens to stay vigilant.
Following the warning, the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, has vowed a reckoning to those who have attacked mosques and hotels holding migrants, hurled bricks at the police and counter-protesters, and looted shops and burnt cars.
Violence erupted in Plymouth, southern England, and Belfast, Northern Ireland, yesterday, with hundreds of rioters clashing with police. Protesters hurled petrol bombs and heavy objects at officers and set a police vehicle ablaze.
However, an online message has threatened to target immigration centers and law firms supporting migrants on Wednesday.
In the first widespread outbreak of violence in Britain for 13 years, hundreds of men, some women, and children have attacked hotels housing asylum-seekers from Africa and the Middle East, chanting “get them out” and “stop the boats,” in reference to asylum seekers arriving in southern England on small dinghies.
They have also pelted mosques with rocks; unverified online videos appear to show ethnic minorities being beaten up, and one man photographed at a protest in Sunderland on Friday had a swastika tattooed on his back.
In Birmingham, Britain’s second-largest city, videos online on Monday evening showed a group of Asian men gathering with Palestinian flags after reports that anti-migrant protesters may target the area. Reporters on the scene said they were met with hostility, and videos appeared to show one white man being attacked in a pub.
The prospect of clashes between white and ethnic minority groups revived memories of race riots that broke out in Oldham and other northern English towns in 2001 – which an official report later attributed to a lack of social cohesion, with two communities living parallel lives.
The government has said riots in recent days were not a proportionate response to concerns about immigration but violence whipped up by far-right agitators and supported by football hooligans and young people.
