The Government has declared that it is in a “state of maximum alert” to deal with any possible disorder in the coming days.
The courts throughout the United Kingdom are dictating a series of sentences against those involved in the far-right riots thatthat have devastated parts of England and Northern Ireland this last week, amid fears of new acts of violence scheduled for this weekend.
In recent days, numerous cases have already been presented to Justice, and the longest sentence handed down to date has been three years in prisonafter the first minister Keir Starmer promised rioters would feel “the full weight of the law”.
Deter new disorders
The British Government hopes that the harsh sentences, handed down quickly, deter new disordersas concern grows that the start of the football season this weekend could trigger new disturbances.
The wave of far-right violence was initially triggered by the murder of three girls in a mass attack at a dance academy in the town of Southportin the northwest of England, on July 29.
Fed by the misinformation on the internetxenophobic groups rushed to blame Muslim and immigrant communities of the United Kingdom – an accusation that has since been proven unfounded – and began to attacking Muslim and foreign-owned businesses across the country, as well as to individuals.
Since then, anger has escalated, fueled by far-right agitators and even technology billionaire Elon Musk on his social media platform X, over false accusations of media bias.
Things seemed to change Wednesday night, when Police prepared for another series of riotsbut instead he found thousands of peaceful protesters against racism in the streets.
However, the minister Nick Thomas-Symonds declared this Friday to the ‘BBC’ that the Government was facing the weekend “in a state of great preparation“, highlighting the speed with which the courts dealt with criminals and specialized police officers deployed to quell any disturbance.
In another interview with ‘Sky News’, Thomas-Symonds advised people against attend peaceful protests against riots as long as police forces have been forced to deal with the crisis.
“Having spoken to police officers yesterday about the pressure they are under and the hours they work, I don’t think it helps politicians to encourage even more people. on our streets,” he said.
“However, we must distinguish between British tradition of peaceful protests -which is part of our policy- and the violent thuggery we have seen on our streets“he added.
Some of those detained so far in connection with the riots have been children as young as 11; 15-year-old boy admitted to throwing a slab at another person’s head and another 14 pleaded guilty to shooting fireworks into the crowd.
