DNA
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has vowed to “take every step possible” to keep the Muslim community safe as he announced a new violent disorder unit following days of violent riots.
Starmer, 61, called an emergency meeting of all police chiefs on Thursday after false rumours about the Southport attacker being a Muslim led to hundreds of far right protestors targeting mosques and countrywide riots.
Protests began in Southport on Tuesday with 300 rioters throwing bricks at the police, injuring more than 50 of them, and setting fires outside a mosque.
The emergency meeting was followed by a press conference during which Starmer pledged to create a new unit, allowing forces to share intelligence and tackle mob violence.
He vowed to crackdown on the far right and protect the Muslim community.
He said: “For the Muslim community I will take every step possible to keep you safe. Mosques being attacked because they’re mosques — the far right are showing who they are. We have to show who we are in response to that.
“The far right’s conduct is co-ordinated and deliberate. It is a group absolutely bent on violence and we will ensure it is met with the most robust response in the next few days and weeks.
“It is not protesting, it is not legitimate, it is crime. We will put a stop to it.“
He told police chiefs the government will make sure they have “got the powers they need” to tackle the rioters.
The meeting in Downing Street came after a 17-year-old boy named Axel Rudakubana was charged with the murder of three girls — Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven — in the knife attack at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport.
He is also charged with the attempted murder of yoga class instructor Leanne Lucas, businessman John Hayes and eight children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, as well as with possession of a kitchen knife with a curved blade.
