Starmer says UK ‘on high alert’ for more far-right rallies

LONDON: UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned on Friday that authorities must “stay on high alert” for more far-right riots, as a court issued the first jail sentence for online incitement during the recent disorder.

Starmer´s comments followed consecutive nights of relative quiet across England, after a week of near daily unrest in more than a dozen places after 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.

Starmer was speaking during a visit to the headquarters of London´s Metropolitan Police.

“Swift justice” dispensed on rioters by the courts in recent days had acted as a deterrent to more disorder in English towns and cities, he said.

“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,” he told UK broadcasters.

“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.”

Hours later, a judge in Leeds, northern England, jailed a 28-year-old man for 20 months after he admitted publishing Facebook posts that met the criminal threshold for stirring up racial hatred.

In the first case of its kind linked to the disturbances, the judge sentenced Jordan Parlour for the posts last week encouraging people to attack a hotel in the city housing asylum seekers and refugees.

The hotel manager put the building into lockdown on Saturday due to the disorder in the city, and at least one window was broken after stones were thrown at it over the weekend.

Speaking before the sentencing -- but after the man had been convicted -- Starmer said it was “a reminder to everyone that whether you´re directly involved or whether you´re remotely involved, you´re culpable”.

Social media executives as well as users should be “mindful of the first priority, which is to ensure that our communities are safe and secure”, he added, hinting at stricter enforcement in future.

“We´re going to have to look more broadly at social media after this disorder but the focus at the moment has to be on dealing with the disorder,” Starmer said.

The UK leader held another crisis meeting of top ministers and police chiefs late on Thursday.

In his latest remarks, he noted potential unrest linked to the start of the football season would be “added into the mix” of challenges facing authorities this weekend.

Some far-right rioters and agitators are believed to have links to England´s decades-old football hooligan scene. Although it has diminished since its heyday in the 1980s, it can still generate violence on match days.

Police in England said Friday that forces nationwide had now arrested nearly 600 people suspected of taking part in the unrest that began on July 30, and around 150 charges had been filed.

The disturbances, first sparked by a July 29 knife attack in which three children were killed, have seen mosques and migrant-related facilities attacked alongside police and other targets.

Meanwhile, King Charles has called for mutual respect and understanding after racist riots targeting Muslims and migrants in Britain, a Buckingham Palace spokesman said on Friday, marking the first intervention by the monarch since the unrest began last week.

The king thanked police and emergency services for their response to the disturbances and he welcomed the way that community groups had countered “the aggression and criminality from a few,” the spokesman said in a statement.